If we have discovered one thing about being human, it is that our sense of neighborhood contributes to our sense of ourselves. Friendships we make, the feeling of belonging that we cherish are all part of who we are, and all are part of community. The Abacoa neighborhood embodies these fundamental elements of community.
Abacoa is a 2000 acre mixed use neighborhood located in Jupiter, Florida. The neighborhood is arranged around the concepts and principles of traditional neighborhood development. Its many uses and people encourages the creation of a community closely knit. The Abacoa neighborhood is a place where people can reside and work and go to school. It truly captures the American communitys human, pedestrian scale.
The master plan of the community of Abacoa brings to mind a patchwork quilt: a collection of different patterns that come together in a cohesive and unified whole. In this richly textured community, one finds seamless transitions between residential and non-residential zones, education sites and recreation areas. Within the Abacoa development there are more than a dozen neighborhoods, two college campuses, two public schools, a baseball stadium for spring training and minor league baseball, a golf course open to the public, a main street style town center, a shopping plaza and a workplace district. Interspersed throughout the community are greenways and tracts of multifunctional open spaces that serve both conservation purposes and as edge areas defining the various neighborhoods.
The basis of
Abacoa is connectivity, the idea that every discrete entity is part of a larger whole. Houses, neighborhoods, schools, shops, offices, recreation sites, preservesnone of these exist in a vacuum, all of them are part of something larger than themselves. Collectively, they form the basis of community. By connecting one to another, they engage people more closely with their surroundings and with one another. They make Abacoa feel like home.
The Abacoa community captures the feel of a traditional small town feel by designing a neighborhood that promotes community interaction. The environment that Abacoa fosters is one that reflects very clearly who we are and how we live: as part of a community.
