Environmental Exposure and Neighborhood Change: A Longitudinal Study of Little Haiti, Miami

Environmental Exposure and Neighborhood Change: A Longitudinal Study of Little Haiti, Miami

Alvin Sherman Library

Urban development trends in coastal cities are increasingly impacted by environmental characteristics like elevation. As individuals and businesses residing near the coast move inland to escape rising sea levels, climate-resilient communities may begin to experience increased housing market trends and real estate investment. This longitudinal, retrospective study investigates how elevation influences the housing market in higher-ground communities, with a focus on the Little Haiti neighborhood in Miami, Florida, while also describing changes in demographic characteristics over time. Census tracts within Little Haiti were used as the unit of analysis for this study while using the U.S. Geological Survey Data to determine neighborhood elevation. A simple linear regression was used to estimate the association between elevation and the change in property value. Socioeconomic differences were controlled by including demographic characteristics as covariates in the model. The percent change in median residential property value was measured between the years 2010 and 2020.