Ali Can Atabey, Victoria Janok, Andrea McCain, Davie Mojica

Downtowns, Plazas, and Voids investigates places of daily activity and the residual vacancies between them.  Tampa and Orlando are distinct conurbations joined by Interstate 4 and sprawling pockets of development.  Tampa’s role as an import- export city has shaped an urban space very different from the tourism support center of Orlando.  The formation of these territories reflects a variety of economic stimuli and the pervasive middle class suburban movements of the past sixty years. The impact of the resultant sprawl and its relationship with downtown cores is inseparable.  The term “Downtown” has traditionally implied a high concentration of business, government, commerce, and leisure spaces, yet these components are no longer centrally located in Tampa or Orlando.  Although the city cores still house significant business and governmental agencies, places of commerce and leisure have extended far beyond the city proper.  Isolated self-governing utopias have emerged within the fabric, such as Disney World, and even Downtown Disney.  If components of the Downtown formula are de-emphasized or removed what is the new definition of “Downtown”?  Is the form, location, and function of “Downtown” temporal?