THE LIMITS TO THE IMAGINEERED CITY - SOCIOSPATIAL POLARIZATION IN ORLANDO

Postindustrial city development has become increasingly privatized, in addition to being based more and more on ''imagineering'' place for s ale to footloose producers and consumers. As a result, cities have tak en on many of the characteristics generally associated with theme park s. Themed built environments envelop highly selective communities esse ntially isolated from others, both socially and spatially. I argue tha t these sociospatial results of Disneyesque urban development do not b ode well for urban social relations. I substantiate this claim by docu menting the evolution of sociospatial isolation and polarization in Or lando, Florida, which has grown quite rapidly since the arrival of Dis ney World in the early 1970s. This ''other'' Orlando is proving to be ever more difficult to imagineer away and, indeed, represents the soci al limits to Disneyesque development.