City of Miami’s Historic Preservation Challenges: Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Real Estate Trends

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The inevitable rise in sea level has drawn the City of Miami into the focus of many studies aimed at understanding future impacts on coastal cityscapes. Local archaeological organizations and professionals are interested in understanding the impact that climate change will eventually have on the region’s archaeological landscape. Miami’s most incredible archaeological sites, including the Miami Circle and MET Square, have been discovered along the Biscayne Bay coast and banks of the Miami River, putting them at significant risk. Though climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge to preservation in these vulnerable environments, there are other major challenges which I will describe in this paper through my experience as a City of Miami Historic Preservation Planner and Acting City Archaeologist. These challenges include the surging real estate development trend, with over 30 coastal condo towers built or under construction since 2016; and ordinances and policies that have been reticent to change toward better serving their stated goals. In this paper, I will discuss these issues in greater detail along with possible solutions. This paper also endeavors to share experiences and insights gained at the City of Miami working for the Historic and Environmental Preservation Planning Department.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36159.0