Nico Abt, Gianna Ledermann, Samuel Scherer

Within less than a hundred years Florida has been transformed from a tropical wilderness to the fourth most populous, and currently fastest growing, state of the USA. This rapid process of occupation and cultivation is powered by a potent system of transportation and distribution. The development of the North American Interstate Highway System from the nineteen-fifties onwards enabled the economic development of Florida and the Migration of Millions from the Industrial North to the Sunshine State. The railway system served as a major economic catalyst during the development of Florida‘s tourism but has since, as everywhere in the United States, been reduced mostly to a carrier for goods. With the Florida High Speed Rail system a new public transportation network between Tampa, Orlando and Miami is in planning. Florida‘s ports could increase in importance with the widening of the Panama canal.