walkablecities

This is a special collaborative episode with the SOWAL House podcast.  Founder of SOWAL House, Dave King will be co-hosting with Executive Director,  Christy Milliken on this episode featuring Seaside, Florida Founder, Robert Davis and Archictect and Urbanist, Dhiru Thadani. This conversation will be aired on both the SOWAL House and Seaside Institute podcasts.

We cover some of the origin story of Robert Davis, the Seaside vision, and the evolution of both Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach.  

We talk about the community of Seaside, FL and how it was shaped by visionary Robert Davis. 

Robert has always been skillful at surrounding himself with people he is inspired by and has a heart for inspiring others. Davis has a history of looking for ways to curate people to make up the community he would like to live in. While the development of Seaside has been covered in depth, most miss that one of Robert's talents is simply seeking out passioniate and talented people like Dave Rauschkolb for Bud & Alley's, Charlie Modica and family for Modica Market, and Bob & Linda White of Sundog Books. While he is prolific in town development, he also understands that the heart of a community are the people who occupy it.  

Architect and Urbanist, Dhiru Thadani shares earllier memories of this 80-Acre town with big impact and explains the evolution of New Urbanism. Dhiru is the author of two books that archive many of the muses, ideas, and influences of Seaside.  In his book Visions of Seaside, he chronicals the thirty-year history of the evolution and development of Seaside, Florida, its global influence on town planning and the resurgence of place-making in the built environment.  In 2021, Thadani's second book titled Reflections on Seaside is the most comprehensive book on the history and development of the nation's first and most influential New Urbanist town that he simply dedicates "to all who strive to lift the human spirit through beauty".