Dealing with Density

Abstract

In 2006, Miami, Florida’s real estate market was still feverishly pushing outward and experiencing development pressures which threatened to force expansion of Miami-Dade County’s urban development boundary (“UDB”). Though less well known than the growth boundaries in places like Portland, Oregon, Miami-Dade’s UDB has concentrated the built environment away from many agricultural and ecologically sensitive lands immediately adjacent to the Florida Everglades. However, increasing speculation outside of the UDB from developers was sending land values skyward despite existing infrastructure shortages and other problems facing the region. This essay traces the conflict between a campaign to “hold the [UDB] line”, and the still unresolved tension between sprawl and infill densification in contemporary public discourse and land use decision-making.