Florida’s Hurricane-Proof Town Is the Future of Planning for Climate Change
25 October 2022 | Lisa Hall
America’s city planners of tomorrow look set to base future developments on an innovative “hurricane-proof town” that successfully weathered Hurricane Ian, experts told Newsweek.
Babcock Ranch, a planned community of around 5,000 people that straddles parts of Charlotte County and Lee County in southern Florida, withstood the Category 4 storm with minimum damage—and no loss of power.
The town was the first entirely solar-powered town in the U.S. and was designed with extreme weather conditions in mind; all of its electricity cables and phone lines were buried underground and buildings were reinforced.
