South Florida is a dynamic and complex place and home to over 5.5 million people, the state’s largest region, and the seventh most populous metropolitan region in the nation. Only a few decades ago, South Florida could be seen as a chain of fairly independent communities—a pearl necklace of coastal enclaves—largely confined to the area east of I-95. Today the region is defined, by both Enterprise Florida and by the Florida Department of Transportation, as a seven county area stretching more than 300 miles from Key West through Vero Beach. 

South Florida is not only becoming more integrated as a region, it is beginning to overlap with Central Florida and Tampa. Together these regions are forming a crescent of almost continuous urbanization wrapping around the Everglades which analysts have identified as an emerging megaregion. The latest definition of the megaregion, coined “SoFlo” by Richard Florida, uses the I-4 corridor as a northern boundary and includes the Tampa, Orlando, and South Florida metropolitan areas. He notes that the region’s strengths include Miami’s international gateway role, Orlando’s arts and entertainment technology capacity, and Palm Beach County’s up and coming biotech industry focus. A principal objective of CUES most recent indicators report, Preserving Paradise: SoFlo’s Call to Action, is to foster regional thinking and hopefully to support regional action.  The report is organized in three sections: People, Place and Prosperity.  The 3-Ps reflects a model of sustainable development.  According to this model, development in one area should be in balance with development in the other two.

A regional visioning effort, named “Southeast Florida 2060,” may be the perfect platform to engage civically active residents and regional leaders to develop a strong vision for the future and the roadmap to get there.