Despite the less-than-magical results of its experiment in Celebration, Florida, Disney has announced plans to build a chain of master-planned communities around the country.
More than two decades after Disney's first foray into residential development, the company is launching a network of master-planned communities known as Storyliving by Disney, which "will feature distinctively designed spaces, unique amenities and Disney’s brand of world-renowned service," says the company. Disney plans to partner with third-party developers to build and maintain the communities. "With this latest venture, Disney apparently wants to revisit its residential dreams while focusing on the vague and eternally sunny concept of 'storytelling,'" writes James Vincent in The Verge.
According to an article by Herb Scribner, "The first location — called Contino, a Storyliving by Disney community — will be built in the Coachella Valley in Rancho Mirage, California'' and will include 1,900 new homes. Disney plans to provide a club membership and 'curated' experiences and programming for residents, as well as day passes for visitors.
Disney's vision of meticulously planned residential communities, an idea that Walt Disney introduced shortly before his death with his unrealized plan for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), famously became a reality when the company opened Celebration, Florida in 1996. Since then, that town has struggled to live up to its early promises. By 2010, Celebration saw a foreclosure rate twice as high as the Florida state average. The company has not yet announced pricing or additional locations for the Storyliving communities.
Read the full story: Disney is developing planned communities for fans who never want to leave its clutches
Celebration, Florida: 20 Years Later
Disney's efforts to make a quaint American town both failed and succeeded in ways few could have predicted.
EPCOT: The Original 'Smart City'
What can today’s futurists learn from Disney’s unrealized utopia?
Hardly a Celebration
With a recent murder, a shootout-turned-suicide, and a high rate of foreclosure, the reality of Celebration, Florida, is less ideal than appearances would suggest.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
Boston sues Trump administration over revoked infrastructure grant
The Trump administration withdrew the infrastructure grant because less than 1% of the money would go to electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
NYC to turn city-owned property into thousands of homes
The city has scheduled a public hearing regarding the development for October.
Buses travel at 5mph along this route in NYC. The Bronx's first-ever busway looks to change that
Prior to the busway, buses on the Bx36 route traveled as slowly as 5 miles per hour.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello