40 U R B A N I S M O [Seaside, Florida.] the project that ends in the malecon facing Nichupte lagoon, and two public and easy-access urban spaces. Then, the third ruling element is an urban park exceeding 247 acres (over a million square meters), that serves as a transition zone from the city to the natural preservation area Manglares de Nichupté, which is over 11,119 acres (4,500 ha). It should also be noted that public spaces here are ready to serve walkers and people with special needs, as well as those using bicycles, skateboards and, of course, cars and public transportation. With the avenue, malecon, walkways, bikeways and wide sideways, the main character is naturally public space. Practically every lot is of mixed use, with business in the ground floor and up to four levels, then followed by offices and apartments that in some cases reach up to 20 levels. There are these mix-use lots, and also gated communities such as El Table, a key element in this sector. Almost at the same time, in the year 2000, Puerto Cancun was planned and its development started. It came to be another project partaking of this trend in urban planning. Its maritime-tourist orientation, mixed with high-level residential housing, including gated communities and mixed-use groups of buildings with hotels, apartments, businesses and offices, make of Puerto Cancun “a city within the city”, as its slogan reads. Today, it remains a vibrant area wherein people live, buy and work in modern buildings of high architectural quality, where public spaces mingle with walkways, bikeways, roads, malecones, business and office areas, gated communities for different standards of living; all of this enriching the supply of the city and organizing its community under the concept of a master condo. In the spotlight of this project, we can find a 172-acres preservation area (70 ha), right in between the urban zone and the real estate project, granting this development with sustainability features. Without a doubt, this model of development will remain successful. Projects such as Ciudad Mayakoba, wherein the city is given further extension and at the same time issues of security and privacy are solved by means of gated communities and mixed use commercial and business areas, have also implemented the concept of Planned Community. Vertical development projects dominate and, as it has been stated already, gated communities such as Senderos, which are part of this district and aim at supplying the demand for living spaces at basically all levels, from mid-level up to exclusive residential needs with golf course. All of it under a strict plan to protect native vegetation in the central park, the biological corridors and preservation areas that are at the core of the project. By these means, a balance is achieved between the proper use of land and adequate population density levels. It is clear that the future of urban planning and design is closely linked to the ruling principles of habitability, community and sustainability. For current generations, these concepts should be everpresent in their day to day, as their decision-making processes when buying real estate are precisely based in the possibility to live in an environment that upholds these values, values that no one can deny are sure to provide a better life quality. finTHE END
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