| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 4, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
| ||||||||
 | ||||||||
| BOOKS
The Perfect Town? Well, Not Quite CELEBRATION, U.S.A. Living in Disney's Brave New Town By Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins Holt 342 pp $25 THE CELEBRATION CHRONICLES Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Property Value in Disney's New Town By Andrew Ross Ballantine 340pp $25.95 With the approach of a new century, it might be surprising that one of the fastest-growing movements in U.S. architecture and urban design harks back to the beginning of the current century. But as more and more Americans tire of long commutes, isolated neighborhoods, and suburbs more attuned to the needs of automobiles than of humans, advocates of what has come to be known as New Urbanism are winning more followers. The highest-profile example of this trend--even if it doesn't adhere to every tenet--is the Walt Disney Co.-backed town of Celebration, Fla., adjacent to the company's theme parks near Orlando. Without Disney's participation, Celebration might have gotten little more notice than the dozens of similar new communities. But with Disney holding the purse strings--and the blueprints--the town has been described in numerous news stories, and in two new books: Celebration, U.S.A., by journalists Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, and The Celebration Chronicles, by Andrew Ross, who teaches American Studies at New York University. All of the authors took up residence in the town early on in Celebration's three-year history. Frantz's and Collins' work is based largely on their own experiences and conversations with residents and local officials. It reads a bit like a travelogue--interesting, but lacking analysis. Ross supplements his observations and interviews by offering a deeper historical background to New Urbanism and U.S. urban planning. Ultimately, his formula proves more satisfying. Walt Disney had initially planned a town near Disney World--the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT)--but his idea was a far cry from today's Celebration. Whereas Disney envisioned a 1960s postmodern conurbation of skyscrapers and monorails, Celebration recalls a simpler era, when neighbors had the time to stop and chat as they moved about town on foot or by bike. To further that conception, Celebration's planners avoided the cul-de-sacs of modern suburbia for a layout more closely resembling grids of old. Narrow streets slow down traffic, and houses--sporting front porches, where residents are meant to while away their evenings in conversation--sit close to the sidewalk. Downtown is just a short stroll away from every home, or at least those in the first wave of development. To achieve a harmonious architectural profile, though, houses must hew to a ''pattern book'' that mandates everything from tree placement to window size and curtain color. Although cynics deride the town as an underhanded attempt by Disney to infiltrate further the American cultural landscape, both books debunk that notion. None of the authors professes to be much of a fan of Disney--all are openly skeptical of the company's motives on many fronts. But they conclude that building Celebration was primarily an expeditious way to unload profitably some excess land bought in central Florida in the early 1970s. And, as Ross points out, by building the town, the company gained millions in state highway funding that improved traffic at its nearby theme parks. Walt's Disney, which had sought to reengineer American culture, has been replaced by Michael D. Eisner's, which simply wants to make a buck. Indeed, during the authors' tenure in Celebration, the company seemed to distance itself from the town by taking its name off of the water tower. And while there was an early impulse to create a fictitious history for Celebration, that was nixed as too evocative of the fantasy that prevails across the highway at Disney World. Celebration, it was decreed, was to be a real town where real people live--and, as the authors note, it is the only place around Orlando where you can't buy a Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Being realistic, of course, isn't so easy when Disney stands at your shoulder. Collins writes that a tourist asked her whether the houses were real, and Ross says that residents walking dogs have been asked whether they were actors paid to make the town look more authentic. Furthermore, many residents thought ''that the controlled reality of Disney World could be transferred to a real town,'' Collins and Frantz write. A top draw in Celebration was its innovative school, which eschewed grades and textbooks. But in the end, that became the main point of conflict. This is also the topic where the books' analyses differ most. As parents of young children, Frantz and Collins are more skeptical of the school than is Ross. While Frantz and Collins didn't withdraw their kids--as did some who thought the approach kept students from mastering the three R's and getting into good colleges--they give a sympathetic hearing to those who sought more structure. The childless Ross, on the other hand, rues reforms that introduced grades. ''It was disheartening,'' he writes, ''to watch the novel energy between teachers and students dissolve and get realigned in more orthodox ways.'' In the end, conflicts at the school provided a catalyst for the community-building that planners had sought to foster through architecture. While the planners' efforts probably helped, real community spirit has to grow from within. And, perhaps unexpectedly, after a few years, that is happening in Celebration--which is the real lesson to be learned from the endeavor. Although the authors of both books eventually left the town, they conclude that Celebration is a pretty decent place to live, both because of and in spite of Disney. By DAVID ROCKS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
|  |
 | |
RELATED ITEMS The Perfect Town? Well, Not Quite PHOTO: Cover, ``Celebration, U.S.A.'' PHOTO: Cover, ``The Celebration Chronicles'' INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
