The Ethnic Mosaic and the Power Elite

This chapter discusses the complex ethnic mosaic of Miami. The national and ethnic origins of the present population of Miami are too diverse to cover in their entirety, but apart from the most prominent players—Cubans, American Jews, and the remaining Anglos—there are other nationalities and ethnicities that play a significant role, demographically and socially. Of these, none is more important than the African American population that has been in and with the city since its beginnings. Miami's ethnic mosaic can be portrayed as a five-pointed star in which Cuban and American Anglos and Jews occupy the best-known angles but in which the other three weigh significantly in the present mix.

Crime and Victimization in Miami

This chapter considers the flipside of globalization and economic progress in Miami—urban crime. Crime is not homogeneous; there are several distinct types, each with its own etiology and consequences. Homicide, for example, is related to but emerges from causal configurations different from those leading to property theft or money laundering. The chapter reviews leading theories of urban crime in order to develop a framework to fit empirical findings. It highlights the fact that not all urban crime occurs at street level or involves personal victims. It indicates the physical association between different forms of crime and locations in urban space. It shows that wealthier areas of town are not crime-free. They are sites for different forms of crime—more complex, apparently “victimless,” but at times more insidious than the street varieties.

Driving into the Flood

This chapter considers the problems of traffic congestion and rising sea levels plaguing Miami. Traffic congestion has become the major immediate problem in Miami, and the urgency to alleviate it is heard daily and at all levels of government and citizen groups. The root causes of the problem are sustained population growth and endless high-rise construction in the condominium canyons of Miami Beach, downtown Miami, and other areas. Rising sea levels also represent an existential threat. Aside from the limestone underneath, the area is bound by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Florida Bay to the south, and the Everglades to the west. There is nowhere to run. The chapter discusses the four solutions proposed so far to this looming threat: denial, technology, infrastructure above the sea, and exodus.

A Bifurcated Enclave

Of all the major ethnic groups making up metropolitan Miami's population, Cubans have pride of place, not only because of their demographic dominance, but also because they played a pivotal role in the area's economic and social transformation. However, beginning in the 1980s, things took a rather different turn for the Cuban population of the United States. By 2010, its average income had descended below that of other Latin American groups and its poverty rate exceeded by a significant margin the national average. This chapter discusses how the Cuban population of Miami became divided into two distinct blocs: older Cubans, the creators of the business enclave and their American-born children, on the one hand, and Mariel and post-Mariel arrivals and their offspring, on the other. Like all urban phenomena, this bifurcation had a spatial dimension. This bifurcation also took place silently and without major confrontations between the two Cuban communities.

Miami through Latin American Eyes

This chapter considers Latin American beliefs and attitudes toward the United States. These beliefs and attitudes are multidimensional. They express tensions, paradoxes, and often ambivalence. Studies have indicated that access to information and personal contact with the United States are vital in shaping people's dispositions because these concrete interactions have a direct impact on individuals' conceptions about the United States. Research has also demonstrated that anti-Americanism in Latin America is shaped by ideology and national context. Miami has become an extension of Latin America and the Caribbean, where the culture is as influenced by Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans, and other Latin groups as it is by the sophistication and allure of New York City and Hollywood.

The Economic Surge

This chapter traces Miami's economic development. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Miami-Dade County gross regional product in 2012 was $124 billion, having increased from $40.4 billion in 1982 and $50.9 billion in 1992. The motors of the regional economy are wholesale trade, transportation, real estate, finance and insurance, and health care. Together, these sectors accounted for almost half (48.3 percent) of the regional economy by the second decade of this century. By contrast, the accommodation and food services industry, traditionally associated with tourism, represented just 6 percent of the metropolitan economy. An emerging high-tech sector offers promise of transforming the city into a center of technological innovation.

Between Transience and Attachment

This chapter explores people's attachment to Miami in order to understand the character of urban life. Attachment to a place has a concrete psychological impact on individuals. It makes them feel comfortable, gives them a sense of security, and facilitates their involvement with the community. How we feel about the place where we live is a fundamental component of our lives. Conversely, how people experience attachment to a place is a fundamental component of the life of the city. In the case of Miami, understanding community attachment requires an examination of the various ways in which people feel that they belong against the backdrop of transience. A city like Miami with such a degree of heterogeneity, constant migrant flows, and fragmentation faces a major challenge: How can it have meaningful community life?

The Demography and Ecology of the City

This chapter analyzes the dynamics of spatial, demographic, and economic change in metropolitan Miami. It focuses on the strategies of property capital to extract rent from space either by exploiting desirable locations or by creating them where none existed before. Relying on Logan and Molotch's metaphor of the growth machine, it investigates to what extent the ecology of the city and the location of different sectors of its population have been determined by the strategies of accumulation of builders and property managers. Finally, it asks to what extent Miami fulfills the criteria to be classified as a global city and, if so, with what consequences for its inhabitants. The chapter begins with an overview of demographic trends in this metropolitan area.

Introduction

This introductory chapter first sets out the book's focus, namely the changes in Miami during the last quarter of a century—a period that led to the present social, economic, and political character of the city. The confluence of diverse populations in this single geographic spot continues to produce change without a blueprint, leading to surprising outcomes. Tracing them is the object of the investigation in this volume. The remainder of the chapter outlines a set of conceptual guidelines framing the analysis. Topics covered include cities as the center of the evolution of humankind; the transformation of Miami that began in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992; the absence of a consolidated power structure and the still-evolving character of local culture; and the key roles of Miami with respect to Latin America.