South Florida is home to explosive population growth and development, leading to a housing crisis that reflects intense competition for prime real estate locations. These locations are closely tied to local geography and topography. One example affects the marginalized populations living along Miami-Dade County’s coral rock ridge, a north-south expanse that is slightly inland from the coastline and represents the highest elevation. Because Miami-Dade County is “ground zero” for such climate effects as sea-level rise and increasingly-hazardous, climate-driven Atlantic hurricanes, the coral rock ridge is a prime target for redevelopment. Socio-economically disadvantaged residents who live along the ridge now are at risk of displacement from developers who would supplant this population by building new structures designed for an upscale clientele.

Methods

Geographic mobility is being analyzed using 2017 and 2018 census data by zip code. Surveys are being conducted with a subset of the current population living in the Sunniland Mobile Park to examine environmental hazards, threat of displacement, and current mental and physical health status. Geographical data are used to select 100 survey participants for in-depth interviews.

Results

Preliminary results document increasing intra-urban migration within Miami-Dade County with particularly pronounced effects in the Little Haiti zip code (33150). Additional analyses are in process to examine the public health effects on person currently residing along the coral rock ridge.

Conclusion

Clearly, the nexus of climate change and explosive redevelopment of the built environment is producing extensive intra-urban migration with implications for population health. Current residents living along the coral rock ridge face issues of both environmental injustice and health inequity.