The symposium, sponsored by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Florida Initiative on Regional Collaboration, is part of an ongoing effort to advance an initiative, launched in December 2003 by ULI in collaboration with four of its district councils in Florida, to promote more regional collaboration throughout Florida. In addition to ensuring economic competitiveness, such cooperation will help the state’s regions in their efforts to conserve land and other natural resources. Throughout the symposium, government and business leaders and other stakeholders addressed the benefits of regional cooperation and showcased some of the best practices currently underway in the state. 

“Florida has very distinct and different regions. To accomplish greater regional collaboration, it is important to first figure out the needs of each region and then fashion a plan that works for each of them,” said ULI Foundation Chairman Peter Rummell, a ULI trustee and chairman and chief executive officer of The St. Joe Company in Jacksonville.

The ULI Florida Initiative on Regional Collaboration is aimed at preparing the state’s communities for the substantial population growth they will experience in the years ahead. One of the fastest growing states in the nation, Florida is projected by the U.S. Census Bureau to incur an increase of nearly 5 million people over the next 15 years, raising the state’s population to 22.6 million by 2020.

“Regional collaboration should be a fact of life in a state that will continue to grow. If we don’t take the gigantic step and make regionalism work, forty years from now we will look back and wish we had,” Reed said. “With this symposium, we are seeking to move forward with a strong state agenda that will establish regional cooperation as the chosen means for making Florida more competitive in the global economy of the twenty-first century.”

The initiative’s recommendations are detailed in a report, “Building Florida’s Future.” The recommendations focus primarily on actions that can be taken at the state level to catalyze regional collaboration. They are:

• Exercise leadership – The governor must exercise leadership and an ongoing commitment to statewide regional cooperation.
• Promote regional visions and action plans – The state should enable and ensure that each region develops a regional vision and action plan to implement that vision.
• Provide state support for regional visions and action plans – The state must ensure that all state agencies function in a highly responsive and integrated way to foster and monitor regional cooperation and promote and support regional initiatives.
• Sustain and improve regional cooperation – Regional cooperation must be sustained and improved over time. The state must encourage and support, on an ongoing basis, each region’s efforts to make measurable progress toward its vision and to continue to improve regional cooperation

“It’s important to remember that regional cooperation cannot be a one-size-fits-all process,” Rummell said. “But if state leaders embrace the recommendations, each region will have the support necessary to enact solutions tailored to its needs.”   

Robert Rhodes, chairman of the ULI Florida Initiative Implementation Task Force, provided an overview of the principles and recommendations. “High on the next legislative agenda should be state encouragement for regional cooperation. We need to start taking the big view now,” he said.

In addition to the keynote address by Governor Bush, the symposium featured a panel discussion by key state agency leaders: Thaddeus Cohen, Secretary, Florida Department of Community Affairs; Denver Stutler, Secretary, Florida Department of Transportation; Colleen Castille, Secretary, Florida Department of Environmental Protection; The Honorable Mike Davis, Florida House of Representatives; and Dr. Pamella Dana, Florida Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development. The panel was moderated by Steve Seibert, executive director of the Century Commission.

ULI is an international research and education institute dedicated to responsible land use; and the Florida initiative is part of the Institute’s ongoing efforts to promote more efficient development patterns in metropolitan areas worldwide. The Florida program, funded by ULI, four of the Institute’s district councils in Florida, and a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is being directed by a statewide committee of leaders representing the development community, civic and environmental groups, community-based organizations and the public sector. The committee is co-chaired by ULI Foundation Chairman Peter Rummell, a ULI trustee and chairman and chief executive officer of The St. Joe Company in Jacksonville; and by Nathaniel Reed, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The initiative was created to identify what the State of Florida can do to promote regional collaboration to ensure the future economic competitiveness and livability of Florida and its communities. It aims to achieve this goal through three objectives: 1) identifying state barriers to regional cooperation; 2) forging a consensus around effective state actions and reforms that can help facilitate regional solutions; and 3) working for implementation of its recommendations on fostering regional collaboration.

The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 29,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

For more information, contact Trisha Riggs 202/624-7086, email: priggs@uli.org; or Shelley Lauten 407/835-2484, email: shelley.lauten@orlando.org.