Boomers shape the land

Boomers shape the land

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U.S. baby boomers have been on the planet for nearly 70 years, long enough to reshape almost every aspect of American life. Rock culture, consumerism and political activism are part of their legacy.

So too are the lasting changes they've made to the landscape. The Villages, a massive master-planned retirement development in Florida, is a case in point.

. The Villages, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri

The modern American suburb was carved out of the unspoiled countryside around established cities as boomers raised their families.

The suburbs sprawled outwards exponentially. They ate into forests, farmland and natural habitats, covering the land with asphalt and lawns.

The Villages is a self-contained exurb - a housing island sprung like an exotic fruit from rural central Florida, untethered to a city or anything else that came before it.

Though the expansive tract housing might look and feel like home to suburban retirees, a bird’s eye view shows something else.

. Lady Lake, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri

Now in their retirement, boomers are putting their final stamp on the landscape even further out of town in age-restricted communities epitomised by The Villages.

At 88 square kilometres and still expanding, the development is already bigger than Manhattan and approaching the size of central Paris.

The Villages is visually defined by its lush green fairways for golf. There are over 45 courses with about 600 holes and 100 miles of paths used by residents in customised golf carts.

. Lady Lake, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri

The Villages took root in the 1960s, far from Florida’s famous sandy beaches, in remote cow pastures and watermelon fields in rolling Lake County.

Like other land speculators of the time, Michigan businessman Harold Schwartz and a former partner doubled their money by selling home lots sight-unseen to northerners dazzled by the dream of a retirement paradise.

After the federal government banned mail-order land sales, the two slowly developed a trailer park they called Orange Blossom Gardens. By the late 1980s, the Gardens had more than 2,000 mobile homes.

The re-branded development of today includes themed commercial areas in the Disney-esque style of childhood dreams, country club amenities and clubs for every interest.

. The Villages, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri

The Villages has gobbled up more than 8,000 hectares of farmland in three rural counties. It dominates most of the historic small towns nearby in both size and population.

Residents remain tucked behind the exurb’s gates for weeks on end, emerging only occasionally for an odd trip back into the heterogeneous world they intentionally left behind.

The Villages is surrounded by Central Florida’s remaining cattle ranches, horse pastures and farms. Orlando, the closest city, is an hour’s drive away.

. The Villages, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri

Schwartz’s son H. Gary Morse, who died in 2014, and the family-held Holding Company of the Villages drew boomers to their multi-billion-dollar enterprise with visions of a care-free, play-filled lifestyle for their final years.

Like the suburbs of the baby boomers’ youth, The Villages is 98 percent white and affluent.

All of which begs the question: What happens to this landscape when the boomers are gone, leaving behind generations that have shown themselves to be less enthralled by golf and more at home in the melting pot of the city?

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. Lady Lake, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
. The Villages, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
. Lady Lake, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
. Lady Lake, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
. The Villages, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
. The Villages, United States. Reuters
. Lady Lake, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
. The Villages, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
. The Villages, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
. The Villages, United States. Reuters/Carlo Allegri