'Climate Gentrification' Is Exacerbating Economic Inequality in Miami

At CityLab, Richard Florida relays the results of an academic study on a "still emerging and not yet clearly defined" phenomenon known as "climate gentrification."

As water levels rise and flooding increases, Miami will segregate along new lines, with the poor pushed farther into the region’s hinterlands, or perhaps out of the region altogether—exacerbating the substantial spatial inequality that already defines the region.

(Similar results were published earlier this year in the same journal.)

The strongest correlation between elevation and home prices were in the city’s most low-lying areas, including Miami Beach, which—despite admirable efforts to adapt to climate change—is still basically a vulnerable barrier island.

The study, Florida writes, also demonstrates that gentrification "does not simply reflect the preferences and decisions of so-called gentrifiers. It is often the product of larger structural forces and major public investments."