Southeast Florida 2060

About Southeast Florida 2060

Southeast Florida, like other metropolitan regions across the United States and the world, competes for jobs, economic investment, and future prosperity on a global playing field that knows no jurisdictional boundaries.  From Indian River to the Florida Keys, this complex region is composed of four sub regions, hundreds of unique communities, distinct cultures, and one-of-a-kind natural treasures.  And while each of these peoples and places possess unique qualities, it is clear that all share an intertwined economic and environmental destiny.

The Southeast Florida 2060 initiative will work with the region’s stakeholders to build a regional vision which captures the dreams and hopes of its citizens for a brighter future and improved quality of life for themselves and their children. 

The Southeast Florida 2060 initiative will provide a framework for integrated and unified investment strategies to assure a high quality of life and economic competitiveness for the region’s communities.  The initiative will promote and foster a shared understanding of the region’s natural, physical, social, and economic assets while respecting the diverse character of the region’s communities.  It will increase the public’s recognition and understanding of the region’s shared values, challenges and opportunities. 


Why is this needed?

• In 1900 much of Southeast Florida was a frontier.  By 2000 Southeast Florida was the sixth-largest metropolitan region in the US. 

• Since the end of World War II, Southeast Florida has been in a near constant state of change.  Just as today’s Southeast Florida bears little resemblance to the Southeast Florida of 1950; Southeast Florida in 2060 will be very different.  The region’s combined statistics are daunting: 

• 295 miles of Atlantic Ocean coast form the eastern boundary; the Everglades forms the western boundary
  

• 7 counties:  Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River

• A 2005 population larger than 35 states

• The heart of a diverse, international region, Southeast Florida welcomes 267 new residents each day, the majority due to international migration

• More than a third of the region’s residents are foreign-born, with more than 50,000 residents each from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Dominican Republic and Honduras

• Home to almost 1,400 multinational businesses that employ over 61,000 people

• “Cruise capital of the world” with over 9 million passengers in 2004

• By 2030, the region is projected to add another 2.4 million people

• Domestic migration and mobility will continue to be significant

• A 2004 total personal income of $203 billion, 37 percent of the State’s whole

• 25 percent of that personal income is derived from dividends, interest and rent, higher than both the State’s and the nation’s

• More than 233,000 jobs have been added since 2000; however, poverty rates remain higher than the State’s as a whole

An Accidental Region

In some respects, Southeast Florida is an accidental region, defined by geography and common environmental concerns. 

The region’s cities have literally grown to meet each other.  Communities that have long thought of themselves as unique oases are finding that their economic fortunes are intertwined with those of the city next door or down the coast.  International events and turmoil, particularly in Latin and Central America and the Caribbean, directly affect the economy and many of the residents of Southeast Florida. 

Unlike most major metropolitan regions, Southeast Florida did not grow around a central city.  Instead growth has spread from east to west, from the Atlantic to the Everglades.  Most of this region’s residents move from somewhere else; historically from the urban centers of the Northeast and Midwest.  That has changed; in the last five years 7 of every 10 new residents emigrated from other countries. 

Why now?

It’s time for Southeast Florida to move to the next level, to develop a regional mindset that focuses more on how to maximize the commonalities than accentuate the differences.

The shifting nature of the global economy is changing the way business is done.  Regions that can’t recognize and adapt to these changes will cease to be economically competitive.  It’s time to broaden the context for the region’s economic competitiveness.  Southeast Florida will never be as competitive and innovative as it could be without developing regional leaders who are able and willing to collaborate across the boundaries of geography, sector, constituencies, and topical foci to maximize opportunities and address challenges. 

The Southeast Florida 2060 Initiative

To be successful Southeast Florida 2060 must engage a broad and diverse group of stakeholders reaching across all boundaries -- political, jurisdictional, sector and topical.

The South Florida Regional Planning Council, the Center for Environmental and Urban Solutions at FAU, the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council and the Urban Land Institute SE Florida/Caribbean are working together to design and organize a collaborative process to achieve a regional framework for integrated and unified investment strategies for the future.  A core group of stakeholders have begun working together to envision and organize this initiative and recruit others.  They include:

• Regional Business Alliance

• South Florida Regional Transportation Authority

• South Florida Regional Planning Council

• Urban Land Institute SE Florida / Caribbean

• FAU Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions

• South Florida Regional Resource Center

• Collins Center for Public Policy, Inc.

• Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council

• Institute for Community Collaboration, Inc.

In the past five years, private, public and nonprofit entities have begun the process of working together as evidenced by the development of organizations like the Regional Business Alliance, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, the iCoast, and the South Florida Regional Resource Center.  The Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County MPOs have formed a regional coordination group as have the Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River County MPOs.  The Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach county commissions meet together periodically, as do the South Florida and Treasure Coast Regional Planning Councils, and the three county-based Leadership programs.  All are steps in the right direction; however, each of these still occurs largely within its own circle of interests and stakeholders. 

Initially identified goals include:

• Developing a network of regional stewards and leaders

• Creating and strengthening regional coalitions

• Developing and maintaining an open forum for ongoing dialogue, planning, implementation, and accountability in the region

• Fostering a culture of integrated planning and investment that at a minimum brings together land use, transportation, water supply, environmental restoration and conservation, urban planning and design, economic development, and human systems planning, with budget allocation processes to create a more sustainable and prosperous Southeast Florida

• Creating and sustaining a regional vision and mindset including goals to guide growth, change, and investment over the next 45 years

• Creating a regional implementation and investment strategy

• Measuring and evaluating progress to ensure that we reach our goals and set new ones in a process of continuous improvement

• It’s time for Southeast Florida to move to the next level, to develop a regional mindset that focuses more on how to maximize the commonalities than accentuate the differences.

• If Southeast Florida fails to move forward in the development of its regional plan, the Region risks a diminished quality of life and decreased competitiveness when compared to regions across the state and country which have formulated their unified vision and action plan.

For additional information, please contact:   South Florida Regional Planning Counci
                                                                      email:  sfadmin@sfrpc.com