We find that Shakespeare has something to say about zoning. I must get the quote right:
“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet….”
So the zoning application is this: Is a neighborhood just as trendy and hip as any other neighborhood without a name? Shakespeare would have us believe so. Yet, do not all great neighborhoods have names? In South Florida, we have Wynwood, Design District, MiMo, SoBe, Wilton Manors, Dixie Dining, El Cid, and Northwood, to name a few. Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, Florida never got a nickname but it spawned Pineapple Grove, Osceola Park, SofA, and Lake Ida.
There was an interesting article in the New York Times, July 9, 2017 by Ginia Bellafante on the possible renaming of Harlem which can be found on the Uptown Collective site:
Can you really do that? Well, it is one of the challenges of “place making.” If you are going to create a neighborhood, and nurture a sense of community, do you not also have to create a brand? Oreos probably would taste as good as they taste without being called Oreos, but no one would know how to find them. And no one will find your emerging neighborhood without a name. Good luck to the early adopters of any emerging neighborhood, hopefully you get the naming rights.
A shout out to Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Hallandale Beach: What are you creating for us? Tell us your great neighborhood names.