Main entry:

Stephenson, R. Bruce (Robert Bruce), 1955-

Title & Author:

Visions of Eden : environmentalism, urban planning, and city building in St. Petersburg, Florida, 1900-1995 / R. Bruce Stephenson.

Publication:

Columbus, OH : Ohio State University Press, 1997.

Description:

ix, 234 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Series:

Urban life and urban landscape series

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-226) and index.
Introduction: City Planning in Eden -- 1. William Straub's Crusade for Beauty -- 2. A Laboratory for Urban Planning? -- 3. St. Petersburg Today, St. Petersburg Tomorrow: A Model Plan for the Modern City -- 4. To Sell or to Plan Paradise? -- 5. The End of a Dream, the Institution of Planning -- 6. The Bartholomew Plan: A Formula for Efficiency -- 7. Beyond Limits: The Death of Boca Ciega Bay -- 8. Establishing Limits: The "Quiet Revolution" -- 9. Recycling Eden: Planning for the Next Century -- Epilogue: The Nolen Renaissance.

Summary:

Since the turn of the century, the opportunity to design a city nestled in a subtropical garden has attracted the nation's preeminent planners to St. Petersburg. The most ambitious plan was developed in 1923 by John Nolen, who believed that an interconnected system of preserves and parks would enhance the city's development and attract tourists for generations. His initiative failed miserably at the polls, however, because it threatened the conflicting notion of paradise held by hundreds of investors, who were profiting from the greatest real estate boom in the nation's history and feared that planning would curtail speculation.
As Stephenson points out, a half century would pass until a series of ecological disasters in the 1970s finally compelled city officials to adopt an environmentally sound development plan that reflected Nolen's original vision. Stephenson carefully explores St. Petersburg's slow awakening to ecological responsibility - to the importance of designing a community that meets both human needs and economic demands. As the debate over the "New Urbanism" moves forward, this book will serve as a useful guide for those who will plan, build, and inhabit the cities of the twenty-first century.

Resources:
Book review (H-Net)

ISBN:

0814207251 (alk. paper)
9780814207253 (alk. paper)
081420726X (pbk. ; alk. paper)
9780814207260 (pbk. ; alk. paper)

Subject:

City planning Florida Saint Petersburg History.
City planning Environmental aspects Florida Saint Petersburg History.
Urbanisme Floride Saint Petersburg Histoire.
Urbanisme Aspect de l'environnement Floride Saint Petersburg Histoire.
City planning.
City planning Environmental aspects.
City planning Environmental aspects Florida History.
Florida Saint Petersburg.
Saint Petersburg (Fla.) City planning History.
City planning Environmental aspects History Florida Saint Petersburg
City planning History Florida Saint Petersburg

Form/genre:

History.

Added entries:

Urban life and urban landscape series.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 196225
Call No.: HT168.S174.S8 (ID:97-B2422)
Status: Available