Dividing a City: Real Estate Mega-Speculation and Contention in Miami, Florida

Miami is not a newcomer to the history of gentrification that has reshaped the urban fabric in cities all over the world. Yet a new mega project to be implemented in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood represents a strategic capitalist modification of the city’s previous processes of class-based and r...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Tardanico, Richard, Oslender, Ulrich
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/130220
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/130220
https://doi.org/10.12795/astragalo.2021.i29.05
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Gentrification
Miami
Displacement
Dispossession
Mega speculation
Corporate Real Estate Hegemony
Descripción
Sumario:Miami is not a newcomer to the history of gentrification that has reshaped the urban fabric in cities all over the world. Yet a new mega project to be implemented in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood represents a strategic capitalist modification of the city’s previous processes of class-based and racialized socio-territorial dispossession and displacement. As we argue in this paper, Little Haiti’s Magic City Innovation District stands emblematic for a global boom in financialized urban corporate accumulation, which presents new challenges to local communities. We ask, what practical political options does a predominantly poor minority community have in confronting such challenges? Our discussion of Miami’s Little Haiti suggests two conclusions: first, that real estate mega speculation potentially exacerbates politico-social divisions within such a community, subverts its capacity for resistance, and renders it more vulnerable to large-scale dispossession and displacement; and second, that mega speculation exacerbates socio-territorial divisions and inequalities within the fabric of a wider metropolis.