Synopses & Reviews
What is it like to start a new community-not a suburb or a subdivision, but a town, intended to be a self-supporting community that combines the best of the new technological innovations and the most cherished nostalgic elements of American towns? In 1997, six months after the first residents relocated to Celebration, Florida--Disney's "model" town--Doug Frantz and Cathy Collins and their two children moved in to participate in and report on this new venture. Their account, which
The Richmond Style Weekly called a "fascinating and evenhanded" report from the trenches, follows the ups and downs of the two years the family lived this experiment firsthand; the new afterword details their surprisingly difficult transition back to a "normal life" in Westport, Connecticut. Their experience tells us as much about ourselves and our hopes and dreams as it does about the daily reality of building a community from the ground up.
Douglas Frantz is on t he national staff of The New York Times and has written for the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and The Albuquerque Tribune. Catherine Collins has written for the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Doug and Cathy are the coauthors of Teachers: Talking Out of School.
When the Walt Disney Company unveiled its plans to build the town of the future, a model for environmentally sound, community-supportive urban development, it generated enormous interest around the country and the world. After all, Disney is one of the world's best-known brand names, with a string of successes from theme parks to Broadwaythough none was known for being environmentally friendly or socially conscious. Still, the plan for Celebration, Florida, was powerful enough to draw some of the world's leading architects and urban planners. Public interest was so strong that a lottery was required to pick the first residents from thousands of homeseekers.
Among the early residents were New York Times reporter Doug Frantz and his wife, Cathy Collins. Along with their two school-age children, they moved into the community shortly after the very first wave of people had arrived. Openly acknowledging that they were there to report on the town, they would spend the next two years as both observers and participants. The result is Celebration, U.S.A.a report from the front lines that will surprise Disneyphobes and Disneyphiles alike.
This is an interim report. The town is evolving, and it will be years before we know if or how it succeeds. But what Celebration, U.S.A. reveals is how a new town begins to develop real community structures and just how much social engineering can be done through bricks and mortar. Perhaps most important, it reveals how deeply unhappy millions of Americans are living in their isolated suburban, car-dependent world.
Is Celebration a model for the future? Not yet. But it has clearly struck a nerve deep in the nation's soul. Something beyond the architecture and planning, beyond the Disney label, has drawn people to this new frontier. And in telling the story of Celebration, authors Frantz and Collins tell us as much about our dreams and desires as about the way Disney set to work inventing this brave new town. Like the best of social reporting, this book challenges us to consider what we want for ourselves, our kids, and our country as the world heads into a new century.
"A journey that delves into social theory, the mechanics of new towns, the New Urbanism, and, most important, the struggle to create a democratic community."Bruce Stephenson, Environmental Studies Department, Rollins College
"Admirably candid and readable."Los Angeles Times
"The authors report engagingly and objectively on what they saw and heard at Celebration . . . A highly valuable case study on one of the most important movements in community building in decades."The Plain Dealer
"Insightful and thought-provoking . . . Offers good humor, excellent research, compelling anecdotes."Bookpage
"[The authors] portraits of the town and its people are balanced, empathetic, and often quite keen."The Baltimore Sun
"[An] eminently readable account."USA Today
"I've always wondered what it must be like to be in the first generation of people to inhabit a townto be responsible for forming its institutions and customs. Celebration is the closest thing America can offer to a new town, and even with the heavy hand of Disney in the picture, its story provides some real clues about what it means to be a community."Bill McKibben
"A very balanced account of how Celebration came together."Witold Rybezynski
"Nothing is perfect, but Celebration sure tries."Patricia S. Schoeder
"A journey that delves into social theory, the mechanics of new towns, the New Urbanism, and, most important, the struggle to create a democratic community."Bruce Stephenson, Environmental Studies Department, Rollins College
Review
"Insightful and thought-provoking.... Offers good humor, excellent research, compelling anecdotes." (BookPage)
Review
"[An] eminently readable account." (USA Today)
Review
"The authors report engagingly and objectively on what they saw and heard at Celebration...a highly valuable case study on one of the most important movements in community building in decades." --
Cleveland Plain Dealer "Insightful and thought-provoking.... Offers good humor, excellent research, compelling anecdotes."--BookPage
"[An] eminently readable account."--USA Today
A prize winning reporter describes life in Disney's vision of the future in a book that is "admirably candid and readable"=--Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
What is it like to start a new community-not a suburb or a subdivision, but a town, intended to be a self-supporting community that combines the best of the new technological innovations and the most cherished nostalgic elements of American towns? In 1997, six months after the first residents relocated to Celebration, Florida--Disney's "model" town--Doug Frantz and Cathy Collins and their two children moved in to participate in and report on this new venture. Their account, which
The Richmond Style Weekly called a "fascinating and evenhanded" report from the trenches, follows the ups and downs of the two years the family lived this experiment firsthand; the new afterword details their surprisingly difficult transition back to a "normal life" in Westport, Connecticut. Their experience tells us as much about ourselves and our hopes and dreams as it does about the daily reality of building a community from the ground up.
Synopsis
What is it like to start a new community-not a suburb or a subdivision, but a town, intended to be a self-supporting community that combines the best of the new technological innovations and the most cherished nostalgic elements of American towns? In 1997, six months after the first residents relocated to Celebration, Florida--Disney's "model" town--Doug Frantz and Cathy Collins and their two children moved in to participate in and report on this new venture. Their account, which
The Richmond Style Weekly called a "fascinating and evenhanded" report from the trenches, follows the ups and downs of the two years the family lived this experiment firsthand; the new afterword details their surprisingly difficult transition back to a "normal life" in Westport, Connecticut. Their experience tells us as much about ourselves and our hopes and dreams as it does about the daily reality of building a community from the ground up.
About the Author
In 1997,
Doug Frantz and
Cathy Collins moved with their two children, Nick and Becky, to Celebration, Florida, to report on the growth of Disney's model community. Doug is on the national staff of
The New York Times; he and Cathy are the co-authors of
Teachers: Talking Out of School.