South Florida – which includes Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties – is mostly a post-WWII creation, driven in its early days by reclamation of the everglades natural system for land development, and by air conditioning. Today, South Florida is the 7th largest metropolitan area in the United States (population 5.6 M). The political organization of South Florida into three, formally independent, very large counties (9th, 17th, and 29th in terms of population as of 2007) represents a particular challenge. There is no regional governance structure.