Elements of Urbanism: Miami

[RiversideGator]

This little bar, Tobacco Road, is the oldest bar in Miami dating back to the lifting of Prohibition in the 1930s.  It is a great, old school bar which I highly recommend. 



When I was there several years ago though, it was not surrounded by highrises to the same degree as it is now.

[RiversideGator]

I just got back from a Miami trip. I freaking LOVE that place!

If I could afford to live there, I might give it a try, but places like that are always different when you are living there.

Miami is very beautiful and interesting but the language barrier is very real there.  In most places you will hear English spoken second, if at all.  Personally, I am not going to learn Spanish to live in a city in the United States.

[RiversideGator]

Great tour, BTW, as always.   

[heights unknown]

I've been all over Miami; got a chance to know it when I lived in Fort Lauderdale for 10 years and had a business on South Beach in 97-98.  It is different when you live in areas like that; you tend to hate the noise, hustle and bustle, and want to get away from it all.  However, since I left South Florida in 2004, Miami has truly exploded even more so than when I last remember it.  I am extremely jealous that Jacksonville doesn't have the density and height that downtown Miami has.  Hope we get onboard one day and truly show ourself as a world class major city.

Heights Unknown

[alta]

I will be in Miami Dec. 24-27.  Looking forward to seeing all the new construction in the past few years

[reednavy]

Brickell Financial Centre is an awesome development and really is a good bar raiser for future developments. Met3 will not be as tall as said, they're really hacking this one back.

[ProjectMaximus]

Nice pics, Lake.

Car free I dont think so. Many people in Miami complain about the the train that goes no where atleast that's what I have heard. I go to Miami atleast 2 to 3 times a yr. You need a car there with out a doubt. Atlanta, New York, and Chicago are a few cities I know of you can visit and pretty much do without a car.

Atlanta's mass transit network is comparable to New York and Chicago?! Really? I have never taken MARTA...never been to Atlanta without a car...but I'm surprised if this is true. I'd put San Fran, DC, Boston, and maybe Philly on your list of car-free big cities before Atlanta.

I'd have to guess that Miami's transit is somewhere between Portland and Minneapolis. Very useful for certain people on certain occasions, but not extensive enough that the average person can get wherever they need to go easily.

[jeh1980]

Very nice article. Miami looks like a beautiful city. Maybe within a few years, even though Jacksonville maybe be like another Miami as far as the number of high rises go, I think we can still be close to it. Keep the Faith! 

Your kidding right.

...Well, what I meant to say is - Maybe within a few years, even though Jacksonville may NOT be like another Miami as for as high rises go, we can still get close to it. Sorry for that little typo. But in lieu of that, I can still see more high rises on the horizon in Jacksonville's future. Maybe not as many as we see in Miami, but just enough to prove once and for all that WE ARE a big city like we say we are  . I'm very optimistic about the future of downtown despite what we all said about our residential market and the economy.  

[thelakelander]

Nice pics, Lake.

Car free I dont think so. Many people in Miami complain about the the train that goes no where atleast that's what I have heard. I go to Miami atleast 2 to 3 times a yr. You need a car there with out a doubt. Atlanta, New York, and Chicago are a few cities I know of you can visit and pretty much do without a car.

Atlanta's mass transit network is comparable to New York and Chicago?! Really? I have never taken MARTA...never been to Atlanta without a car...but I'm surprised if this is true. I'd put San Fran, DC, Boston, and maybe Philly on your list of car-free big cities before Atlanta.

I'd have to guess that Miami's transit is somewhere between Portland and Minneapolis. Very useful for certain people on certain occasions, but not extensive enough that the average person can get wherever they need to go easily.

Atlanta's heavy rail system is more extensive than Miami's but Miami also has a 72 mile commuter rail system liking it with Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.  Even with this, both cities are places where residents have the option to set their lives up to benefit from the use of mass transit.  Other cities in this list would be Dallas, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Buffalo, Denver, LA, San Diego and Baltimore.  Miami's fortunes would change if they could find a way to get an east/west line that served the airport and beach off the ground.

As for cities that can be considered truly car free, NYC, Chicago, DC, Philly, San Francisco, Boston and perhaps Portland would be a part of such a list.

[Ocklawaha]

Miami is very beautiful and interesting but the language barrier is very real there.  In most places you will hear English spoken second, if at all.  Personally, I am not going to learn Spanish to live in a city in the United States.

Por Que? No mi gusta Miami! NUNCA! Muchos Americano's feos.


OCKLAWAHA

[lewyn]

I've lived in Atlanta.  It is definitely much more car-oriented than DC, Boston, etc. or even than Rust Belt cities like Cleveland and Buffalo.  On the other hand, it is not quite as bad in this regard as Jax or Miami.

Yes, Atlanta has two rail lines.  But:
1) they don't go all that far into suburbia
2) Atlanta is so low density that 2 rail lines don't go as far as they would in Miami (let alone DC or Chicago).
3) many of the rail stops are pretty single-use even now, or are in poor neighborhoods that have not yet gotten a lot of investment.

You could live in Atlanta without a car if you lived and worked in high-rise Buckhead and/or Midtown (as I did for 3 years), and if your friends mostly lived in those places.  (See my old "Car-Free in Atlanta" web page, at http://lewyn.tripod.com ).

But otherwise, not so much.

[ProjectMaximus]

I've lived in Atlanta.  It is definitely much more car-oriented than DC, Boston, etc. or even than Rust Belt cities like Cleveland and Buffalo.  On the other hand, it is not quite as bad in this regard as Jax or Miami.

Yes, Atlanta has two rail lines.  But:
1) they don't go all that far into suburbia
2) Atlanta is so low density that 2 rail lines don't go as far as they would in Miami (let alone DC or Chicago).
3) many of the rail stops are pretty single-use even now, or are in poor neighborhoods that have not yet gotten a lot of investment.

You could live in Atlanta without a car if you lived and worked in high-rise Buckhead and/or Midtown (as I did for 3 years), and if your friends mostly lived in those places.  (See my old "Car-Free in Atlanta" web page, at http://lewyn.tripod.com ).

But otherwise, not so much.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured (and what I was trying to say earlier). You can live without a car if you specifically plan your life for that...but the average person can't just get around where they need to go without auto dependence.

[AaroniusLives]

Considering how long Miami has been trying to jump-start their downtown, I'd say that their success is relative. When I was a child growing up in the 'burbs of the Magic City, they built the Metrofail and Metromover, to entice people downtown. Mixed bag, as only businesses moved there, while Coconut Grove, South Beach and Fort Lauderdale took off. It wasn't until Manny Diaz became the best damned mayor the city has ever seen, that Miami became a living city again. It's pretty amazing, actually.