Fort Lauderdale is a strange city. At first glance it’s a perfect example of the typical sprawling, strip-mall filled, car-friendly Florida city. As I visited last weekend for work my first impression certainly supported this – as we attempted to walk to grab a burrito we had to make our way to the only crosswalk in either direction for half of a mile, then dodge (read: jump over) the hedge that surrounded the shopping complex, preventing anyone without a metal shell from entering the facility.
When you travel a bit around the county, a few incongruous elements start to emerge. The whole region is linked by both national inter-city rail (via an Amtrak station) and a comprehensive regional rail system connecting Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Palm Beach. Bike share stations are scattered throughout both the downtown business core and the surrounding suburban counties. Water taxis transport people along Ft. Lauderdale’s extensive canal system. A planned streetcar system will soon connect several major areas of the downtown core. They’re in the process of creating an elaborate greenway system with 370 miles of trails throughout the county.
So what makes this community of 165,000 in the city proper and over 1.8 million in the county different than dozens of other similar areas spread throughout the southern U.S.?
I’m putting my money on tourism.
A View from Suburbia 