What Orlando Wishes to
Accomplish in the SE Sector:

Building Community

Identity and community are often lost in the faceless growth of many suburban areas. Each developer works on a separate time-line to build and market their property. Public facilities and civic spaces are often placed on the left-over land, if they're included at all. The result is a series of sterile and unconnected subdivisions, rather than a cohesive community of people and places.

The large size of the Southeast Orlando Sector Plan area, as well as the coordinated effort underway to plan for the area, provide an opportunity to create a unique image and character that is immediately identifiable to visitors and residents. Like some older communities (Winter Park or Downtown Orlando), Southeast Orlando will be immediately identifiable through its urban design, particularly in its streetscapes, the trees planted along major boulevards, and the scale of local streets.

A sense of community will be nurtured through the new town's physical structure. The area will be identified by the pattern of residential neighborhoods that focus on town, village and neighborhood centers; by the design of homes and commercial buildings; and by the proximity to nature. Each residential neighborhood will be scaled to the pedestrian, making casual interactions possible. Schools and parks will be focal points for neighborhood activities, rather than anonymous institutions within large no man's lands. And commercial districts will integrate public facilities and spaces, creating a civic atmosphere typical of more traditional downtowns. The design and landscape improvements to Narcoossee Road will be an extremely important first step in developing an identity for the community.

Balanced Land Uses

At buildout, the Southeast Plan area could very well be a mid-size town of 50,000 to 60,000 people. A full array of land uses, services, amenities and activities are being planned to fill the needs of the ultimate population. The Southeast Plan provides for a coordinated approach to transportation, employment, shopping and services, by concentrating such uses in places that are compact and walkable. The concept of balanced land uses will create a community which is more diverse and accessible, leading to greater opportunities for social interaction and growth. The new neighborhoods will include a richer mix of building types than can be found in conventional suburban neighborhoods - from sideyard houses, semi-detached houses, cottages, secondary units, courtyard apartments, and mid-rise apartments to shopfronts and offices with apartments above. Think of Park Avenue in Winter Park or Edgewater Drive in College Park.

The new mixed use neighborhoods and communities in the Plan area will also be places where people feel comfortable and safe. One of the tools the City of Orlando will use to ensure the optimum amount of safety are the principles of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design). The CPTED approach results in better and safer site design, by providing for greater natural surveillance, territorial control, and natural access control. Generally, CPTED assists in the creation and maintenance of a built environment that increases the perception of safety for a normal citizen and the perception of risk for a would-be offender.

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