Celebration Flordia

As Disney  discovered  years   later   when   they  developed the new  town   of  Celebration, neighborhoods  could   be  managed through homeowner ’s associations made  up of private  property owners. Since  World War II, more  than  200,000  property owner associations have been  created nationwide. The associations are municipal governments by contract. These  private  organizations manage the town in such a way as to act like a private government; they have very strict and effective rules with regards to regulation of the public realm.  When people  move in they agree  to live by a certain set of rules.

It is tempting to believe that Celebration might reveal something to us about EPCOT. However,  we can’t fully judge what  life might have  been  like  for  EPCOT residents by looking  at  Celebration because it is  a  much  different  city than  EPCOT. Much  smaller than  EPCOT and intended for “permanent” residents, Celebration began  with  4,900  acres  surrounded by 4,700  acres  of protected greenbelts. Robert  A.M. Stern  and  Cooper,  Robertson & Partners designed the  site plan.  Although  Disney does  not  agree  with the label, many credit the town as one of the most visible examples of The New Urbanism or Traditional Neighborhood design.

Celebration was  not  an  effort  to  fulfill Walt’s dream;  it was  a result  of pressure from  the  Bass  Brothers, major  stockholders in Disney during  the  early Eisner  period,  to squeeze more  value out of the Florida property. Eisner hired an executive  experienced in real  estate, Peter  Rummell,  to  come  up  with  something that would  be worthy  of the Disney brand. Eisner was not completely sold on the project, but Rummell built a good case and was given the green  light. The first residents moved  to the city in 1996. Celebration is a small town that features a downtown designed by a collection of the world’s great architects, state-of-the-art public facilities, and a walkable urban core integrated with a residential community.

As to the possibility that Eisner was finally fulfilling Walt’s dream of building  a city, Rummell  said,  “That was press  copy stuff. One of the things  [Eisner] and I were concerned about was that people would draw out the comparisons.” But his boss disagreed—it was Eisner himself who made  the comparison. In Work in Progress he said that the creation of Celebration was “to make good on Walt’s unrealized dream  for a city of the future.”

Read more: Walt and the Promise of Progress City