Weiner, a managing partner at Weiner & Aronson, was involved with the redevelopment of Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach during the 1980s and was involved in writing an outdoor café ordinance that introduced sidewalk dining at a time when malls were fast becoming the norm. "Delray became what it was when it stopped becoming envious of Boca Raton," Weiner tells GlobeSt.com.

Rather than shun its past as a "village by the sea" and raze its downtown, Delray sought to preserve its charm by renovating existing buildings and retaining the charm it had in the 1930s. With the renovation of an elementary school into an art and cultural center, Old School Square began to resemble a town green. Where other cities widened roads to foster automobile traffic, Delray Beach kept its wide sidewalks and single lanes of traffic in either direction on Atlantic Avenue. As a result, the street is a pedestrian-friendly attraction for dining and shopping, he explains. "I've always joked that we have a street designed for jaywalking," he says.

Weiner sees great potential in several surrounding cities, such as Lake Worth and Hollywood, due to pre-existing downtown environments. "Some cities are lucky. You have a sense of place when you arrive," he says.

Weiner says cities should develop side streets to create a sense of adventure, such as those found in Greenwich Village and SoHo in New York City. Cities should also use geography to their advantages. Weiner recalls one South Florida municipality that wanted to create "villages, towns and countrysides" so it would resemble Switzerland. The one thing they were missing were mountains so the idea was scrapped, he adds.

According to Weiner, cities should not create competing entities like City Place and Clematis Street in West Palm Beach and should not wall off downtown areas, such as Mizner Park in Boca Raton. "It can't just be one or two blocks. It has to be a whole neighborhood," Weiner says.

As they look to the future, South Florida cities will face challenges in addition to its geography, such as the drying up of capital funding and the limited use of eminent domain as the result of recent court rulings. "Not every project will be funded," he says.