Underwater Miami, In Text And Video

Real estate values near coastlines are changing around the world now that sea-level rise has become undeniable. “In Miami, the rising sea is already an ineluctible part of daily life,” writes Carolyn Kormann for the New Yorker.

One result of this awareness is the fact that urban centers may now be target locations for wealthy property owners, as opposed to the beachfront real estate that has traditionally been the territory of the rich.

In turn, disadvantaged communities and vulnerable populations, which have long occupied such urban centers, may be priced out. The demographics of cities like Miami may eventually even be reversed.

The New Yorker has commissioned a short video series to describe this situation: the ways the city’s population and administration are attempting to react—and preempt—inevitable changes to the landscape. One video focuses on “planting trees to fight flooding” and another on how gentrification will take on different dynamics in a city urgently affected by climate change.