Seaside

Seaside. 1 City (1990 pop. 38,901), Monterey co., W Calif., on Monterey Bay, in a fruit region; founded 1887, inc. 1954. Its economy is based largely upon tourism. California State Univ. Monterey Bay is there, on the former site of Fort Ord.

2 Planned resort community, Walton co., NW Fla., on the Gulf of Mexico. Designed by architect-planners Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, authors (with Jeff Speck) of the pro-planning, anti-sprawl Suburban Nation (2000), Seaside was built in the mid-1980s according to neotraditional 19th-century house-construction and community-layout principles, with the aim of fostering social interaction. In contrast to the condominium towers, malls, and general overdevelopment of the Panhandle's “Redneck Riviera,” Seaside is the pioneering landmark of the “New Urbanism,” its houses and facilities designed by various contemporary architects, its streets traveled by pedestrian and bicycle traffic. While many have praised Seaside's architectural excellence, other have criticized its sterility and lack of organic spontaneity.

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