Manhattan South? A Study of Miami's Emerging Mixed Use Downtown

It surprised me to see the authors of a recently published New York Times article to compare the outcome of Miami's rapidly evolving Downtown landscape to that of major U.S. metropolises like New York and San Francisco. Miami's mainland has always faltered due to sprawl, while South Beach, the nearby barrier island, with dense commercial development within walking distance of homes, grabbed the media spotlight. It drew in the metropolitan region's tourism and real estate investment.

Miami's image has always been one of luxury living, leisure, and tourism

With millennials seeing positive prospects of living in Downtown and surrounding areas like the Design District, Wynwood, and Midtown, centripetal forces are claiming the central business district, as clerical development moves inward rather than outward as rents become more affordable in the center (also thank the Panama Papers leak). A rapid influx of members from the creative class consisting of artists, entrepreneurs, and business professionals are drawn to a growing cultural economy in these areas. The areas began their growth with art galleries soon followed by boutiques and high-end restaurants.

Miami, as of last year (or so it seems), boasts many a craft brewer, specialty cocktail bar, and innovative restaurant concept. Funky public spaces, such as the Wynwood Yard, offer incubator space for food trucks to try out business and local bands to play concerts every evening of the week. Museums like the Perez Art Museum and the new science museum have become defining attractions, drawing in the public. As a result, the average beach-goer might be evolving into a foodie and public art devotee. 

Food trucks, salsa dancing, raised bed gardens, musical performances
 all take place at the publicly- accessible Wynwood YardImage Source:
https://a.cdn.miamimusicweek.com/production/venue/171/image/Wynwood-Yard.jpg

The Perez Art Museum is as much a value to art and architecture as it is to public space and scenery for the city
Image Source: http://www.daversteels.co.uk/assets/projects/images/golden_dusk_photography__ronstan_usa1.jpg 

Mainland Miami is becoming a cultural powerhouse- a new creative class magnet.  Richard Florida, the renowned urban geographer, might attribute this gentrification to the demand for accessibility to the amenities available in nearby South Beach, but also to the 'coolness' of neighborhoods, while suburban life out west and down south becomes less attractive. While driving one of Miami mainland's other day, I saw a sign for express lanes that read "congested". Young professionals are tired of clogged arterials and highways- they want a nice place to walk their dogs, a good view of Biscayne Bay, and to bump into others of their kind.

More importantly, the city hopefully protects itself from a 'suburban devolution', as urban geographer Jamie Peck calls it. In this process, instead of diverse housing types and mixed use buildings, monotonous condo towers and exclusive neighborhoods of studio lofts begin to dominate the landscape. Planners must pay attention to affordable housing and zoning. Among other concerns, can the city, without a proper industry, sustain itself? That remains to be seen. Unlike other cities, Miami's Downtown might not necessarily be doomed to becoming a playground for the rich, although some areas like the Design District hint at an increasingly polarized geography. However, the evolution, according to some naysayers could take much longer than usual.

Read original article here.