The University of Florida’s Florida Resilient Cities (FRC) Program has engaged in a two-year journey to support the community of Port St. Joe through research and design as it seeks a more resilient future. The outcomes of FRC’s two years of work in Port St. Joe are a range of community engaged projects that highlight Port St. Joe’s collective will to not only survive but to thrive in its coastal environment. In these two years, FRC organized several workshops, coordinated ten independent research studies, engaged over 30 faculty, as many as 100 students, twenty-four local, regional, and national organizations, and more than one hundred local participants.
The results of this collaboration between the local community and FRC are displayed in this digital exhibition. Our aim is for this digital display to provide an opportunity for continued reflection about Port St. Joe’s past and future, to drive positive change to local perception of existing challenges and, consequently, promote a dialogue about the future resilient environmental design of the city. We also hope this exhibition will become a source of information and inspiration beyond Port St. Joe reaching many small communities facing similar challenges.