Streets like this one in Denver, just feel good.
I’ve always had a desire to teach.
I think it correlates with a strong yearning to learn.
My early career was in the newspaper field, where your job boils down to learning about subjects and then sharing (reporting) what you’ve learned with your readers.
Working at a community newspaper is a dream job—if you discount the long hours, low wages and dim prospects for the future. As a young man I did—because the job itself is fascinating.
You get to write. You get to satisfy your curiosity by researching things you’re interested in. You to get meet interesting people and cover fascinating subjects; no two days are the same.
I’ve always liked the excitement of deadlines, it focuses you and you have to produce, which is a cool way to work. When everybody around you is on a similar deadline, there’s an energy in the room that is hard to describe.
I would imagine that teaching has a similar adrenaline rush. If you’re in the flow and connecting with your audience there’s just nothing like it. My daughter is a brand new teacher in Tampa—I plan to talk to her about what she feels when she’s working with students.
All of this is a long-winded way of saying that when a friend called and asked if I would speak to his urban planning class at FAU—I jumped at the chance.
Still, it’s nerve wracking to walk into a room full of strangers; most especially young people who are beginning to look even younger to me with every passing year.
Can you connect? Can you relate? Do I have anything to teach them? And what can I learn from all these young minds?
We talked about how cities evolve and transform– one of my favorite subjects.
I love to tell the Delray story, because I think we are a good case study and that past leaders and city staff used sound strategies for over 20 years to achieve success. Success, not perfection.
For example, we went from 35 percent vacancy and little going on downtown in the 80s to a glowing feature story in the Wall Street Journal last week.
We talked a lot about Boca too.
But the best part is to hear from future planners, urban designers, developers and architects.
What do they see? What do they expect and want from cities? Here’s a few takeaways from an admittedly small sample, but the sentiments seem to match surveys I’ve seen.
Affordability—not just in housing but also reasonable costs for food and entertainment.
Mobility—The young aren’t car centric. Study after study show that millennials are delaying getting driver’s licenses, don’t feel a strong desire to own a car and appreciate and seek out walkable environments. They also believe in services such as Uber and Lyft and understand that driverless cars will change our urban environments.
Environmentally Sensitive and Realistic—They know that Florida is a popular place and that even if “they want their own slice of heaven” i.e. a suburban home on ½ acre they know sprawl is bad for the environment and that we may need to grow vertically rather than sprawl to accommodate a growing populace.
Design Savvy—My small sample of future urban professionals were keen on good architecture and design. They appreciate art and culture, good looking buildings and a mix of uses.
They also talked about wanting their cities to be safe, diverse and chock full of amenities.
A few of the students have been interning in Delray. I hope that many end up staying here after they graduate FAU.
As for me, I kind of wish I was 20-something again, so I can experience it all again. The future is exciting indeed.
Jeff loved this article and wanted to thank you again for being a guest speaker at the urban planning class at FAU. You are a natural teacher and it was certainly exciting to hear the story of the transformation and resurgence of Delray Beach–something I witnessed personally–and you were instrumental in creating. That being said Delray Beach, Boca Raton and FAU are all on the rise and are continuing to grow in a positive way. I too hope our students stay in the area and reach their goals and full potential for we have a special place here.