How Climate Gentrification is Changing Miami and the Rest of the World

Giving Compass' Take:

• Climate gentrification, caused by climate change, is making large parts of the planet uninhabitable for humans, making available spaces for people who are displaced become harder to come by, effectively pushing them out of the city altogether.

• How do we stop this pattern that is only expected to get worse?

• Learn more about the dramatic impacts of climate change.

In Miami’s Little Haiti, the markers of gentrification are popping up — a skyrocketing number of “for sale” signs, glass condos under construction, and a fancy, new cafe on a street corner.

In this case, however, gentrification and its accompanying grievances are being driven by the effects and fears of climate change, according to a report published in Environmental Research Letters.

As rising sea levels render seafront properties less desirable, real estate developers are scouting out high elevation locations, and oftentimes this means low-income neighborhoods, an analysis by researchers at Harvard University found.

The researchers looked at the value of more than 100,000 single-family homes in Miami over the past 45 years and found clear shifts that seem to be induced by climate change.

"What we see here is a theory of climate gentrification that suggests that in Miami, higher elevation land will be worth more," lead author Jesse Keenan told NBC News. "What we found is that the higher elevation properties are essentially worth more now, and increasingly will be worth more in the future.”