Feature Story
Anatomy of Downtown in Transition
Two Downtown News columnists and I engaged six public figures, what we used to call public intellectuals, to X-Ray the transforming Downtown Miami.
While some elected officials, inescapably trapped in campaigning mode, embrace Twitter-philosophizing vigorously, others do engage in thoughtful conversations beyond soundbites. Issues affecting downtown require analysis, and one point of departure for analysis is a survey of the neighborhood, an area undergoing jaw-dropping transformation, said Andres Viglucci, the Urban Affairs reporter for the Miami Herald.
The survey started with a conversation with Miami Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins; the President of the Frost Science Museum, Frank Steslow; Miami Herald’s Andres Viglucci, reporter for Urban Affairs; Dr. Beatriz Gonzalez, President of Miami Dade College, the Wolfson Campus; the preeminent urban planner Bernard Zyscovich, and one innovative real estate developer and preservationist, CEO of the Vagabond Group, Avra Jain.
Cultural Institutions
Before all the tech and crypto hype, cultural institutions were the catalysts for urban renewal and economic development. The emergence of the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts was a force behind the development of the posh Park West enclave, for example. “People are coming to Miami from all over the world, but they are not coming to a deserted beach,” said a realtor. “Downtown has world-class museums of art, history, architecture and design, the Perez Art Museum, and Frost Science.”
We tend to associate science museums to families, and Frost science does offer classes, workshops, special exhibits geared to children. Yet, the influx of young professionals to the Greater Downtown has altered the demographic makeup. Matilda Kalaveshi asked Frank Steslow: How is Frost Science adapting to the shift in demographics?
Relevance was one of his answers. Relevance derived from a position as one of the world’s few planetariums, aquarium and science museum combination, with content that emphasizes environmental science, astronomy and relevant human health topics important to both a local and international audience. The central location in the cultural corridor of Downtown Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District serves our diverse population and a growing number of tourists.”
MK: How does he see the future of Frost Science?
FS: South Florida is certainly at the epicenter of challenges that will require science and technology to resolve. Extreme weather events, impacts from growth/rapid development, warming and acidification of the oceans and the impact on our economically important reefs and fisheries, are just some of the challenges we will need to better understand in order to guide good policy decisions and improve our quality of life. Furthermore, we’re becoming one of the top cities for technology startups, meaning we have a really wide variety of scientists and science-minded individuals living and working in this area. I think it important for South Florida, and particularly Downtown Miami, to continue putting resources into science education, cultural institutions, and programming so that our community continues to be at the forefront of these challenges.
An interesting datum Mr. Steslow wielded: museums have been ranking highest when it comes to public trust, higher than government, media, academia, and other institutions. One infers that the public holds cultural institutions not only as repositories of the artifacts of civilization but also as repositories of ethics. And Frost Science capitalized on this trust to inform during the Pandemic, to incentivize students to the study of science, technology, and mathematics, and help strategizing countermeasures for the effects of climate change.
As to what makes a great Downtown, Frank Steslow had a rotund and simple prescription: “All great cities have great cultural institutions.”
Urban Colleges
Miami Dade College, the Wolfson Campus, literally, the physical heart of Downtown, has been a cultural force, attracting year after year the attention and attendance of thousands of visitors to the iconic Miami Book Fair, arguably the largest in the nation; and the Miami Film Festival. Also, repurposing the historic Freedom Tower to lodge the Museum of Architecture and Design.
Now, with Downtown’s undergoing transformation, Miami Dade College, MDC, the urban core’s college par excellence, is being asked to take on the important role of preparing a workforce for what Mayor Francis Suarez likes to call the Capital of Capital, and the Epicenter for Tech and Crypto. Dr. Gonzalez reiterated: “One of the main goals of the college is preparing the workforce for the new economy and will do it with a little help from its friends. The Knight Foundation, Miami-Dade County, City of Miami and Downtown Development Authority (DDA) invested a combined $15 million to support programs in applied artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and related emerging technologies. This joint commitment will enable MDC to launch, specifically, a new undergraduate degree in applied AI for computer science students and develop a college credit certificate in applied AI. Also, implement the fundamentals of applied AI course for all MDC students, becoming the first college in the nation to require all students regardless of degree track to take at least one course in applied AI, and hire 15 new faculty in AI and emerging tech disciplines in the School of Engineering and Tech. “MDC is leading the way by expanding its tech offerings, ensuring they are aligned with market trends and students’ aspirations.”
Dr. Gonzalez indicated that a tech high school will be incorporated to Miami Dade College starting September 2022. But, while their focus is on getting students into the workforce immediately, attach people to meaningful jobs, where they feel fulfilled and are able to contribute more to society, colleges have to expand how they think about work. MDC is doing that. Working with the many tech companies that are coming to Miami we had to rethink and reshape our programs, but at the same time help all students develop the deep critical thinking that is necessary to compete with machines. Do the jobs that only people can do.”
We don’t want to train students to have just specific skills, but also train them on how to reason ethically or serve people with empathy. Machines can’t do that, despite the advances in artificial intelligence.
Journalism
A city requires a newspaper of record. Unfortunately, noted Andres Viglucci, the Miami Herald no longer fulfils that mission because it lacks the resources. Downtown, he said, is by definition the center of Miami. When the Miami Herald had its headquarters here, it stood as a reminder that government and the private sector were watched and held accountable.
Downtown News: Jounalists are walking encyclopedias. They must research in a relatively short period and produce a piece that is accurate and relevant for the community. So, as the encyclopedist we think you are, what areas you deem underreported?
Andres Viglucci: When we had our building right here in the center of town, we had a central position. Now we don’t have the presence nor the resources to cover adequality our local government. We have one third of reporters that we had before … Clearly, there are issues that we should be covering but have no staff to do it. I have to be very selective with the stories I write. We should be covering more municipal, county and state government, and how urban development affects the community, and education. Reporting on government alone costs a lot of money.
Andres Viglucci surveyed the audience by asking who had subscriptions to the Miami Herald? Not an encouraging show of hands. It takes two to tango, kind of thing. Commissioner Higgins noted the perils of not having robust local coverage: It led to electorate apathy. “Studies show that a lack of awareness results in few voters, and increased corruption. And when local journalism goes away, it costs taxpayers, too. Bond ratings go down when there are no local newspapers. It costs cities more to borrow money.”
“If an informed electorate is a must for the preservation of our democratic system, then,” Downtown News asked Commissioner Higgins, “should the government help subsidize journalism as a public service? “That is a delicate balance, should government pay for a newspaper to exist, the same newspaper that is watching me? It’s two-edged sword.”
An informed electorate is the best defense for Democracy. Should the government help subsidize journalism as a public service?
Andres Viglucci pointed out cases where subsidies work. The obvious example is the British Broadcast Corporation, BBC, a respected news source for one hundred years. “In America, however, I don’t know if it will work.” He pointed out another incisive example: Traditionally, governments helped newspapers financially by having official notices, from bids to zoning changes, advertised in newspapers. Florida revoked that as a way to punish the Miami Herald and other newspaper for unfavorable coverage.
The Hardware
The conversation was divided in two segments, software — culture, education and journalism — and urban development, parks— the hardware.
The great Jane Jacobs said in the late 1950s that downtowns are for people. Her assertion still holds true today. Downtown is not for factories, for industry, the Central Business Centers are about ecosystems, networking, cafes, amenities, culture, density, the hustle. Urban planner Richard Florida observed that shopping centers like the Design District are not really places to shop but more places to meet. You go there, and maybe pick up a shirt, but it’s about networking, walking around and feeling the energy of the city.
As people emerge from the Pandemic and living and working conditions are blurred, will Downtown become the de facto third space, where one also meets and interacts with like-minded people?
Aaron DeMayo mentioned the role parks and plazas played as the space where individual buildings become a cohesive community, and political power strengthens. “Of course,” interjected Commissioner Higgins, “when our parks are allowed to be parks.” (Not seldom downtown residents are denied access to the two main parks, Maurice Ferre and Bayfront, in particular Bayfront. Our parks exist in a constant state of identity crisis, not knowing whether they are parks or cash-generating venues for the city.)
Three Transformative Projects
Three urban development projects crucial for Downtown are underway and serve to tackle issues and aspirations.
- The Miami Worldcenter, a prime example of creating a city within a city as an economic and social engine.
- The revitalization of the Historic Flagler District — Downtown’s unique characteristic.
- Miami-Dade County plans to convert idle County acreage around Government Center into a modern mix-use enclave, which will include schools, affordable housing, a transportation center, a hotel, and office space. (We will examine this project in Part 2 of this feature story next Sunday.)
The Miami Worldcenter
One of the largest private mixed-use developments in the United States, the Miami Worldcenter engulfs ten blocks between NE 2nd and North Miami Avenues, and from 6th to 11th Streets. The 27-acre spread — a mini-city in the evolving West Downtown.
It’s comparable to the Hudson Yards, the mammoth development in New York City, suggested Nitin Motwani, the development group’s managing principal, adding that it may well transform the way we experience Miami: “This is a city that unfortunately is not known for its parks and public spaces but has the weather that we do. We hope that people will start to appreciate the outside in a way they didn’t have the opportunity to do before.”
A couple years ago, when Downtown News featured the Miami Worldcenter as the project reached the middle point of completion, Nitin Motwani observed: “We spent one hundred million dollars on infrastructure, underground and above the ground. And this is just the beginning. As the project evolves, people are going to really appreciate how much downtown needed the Miami Worldcenter. There is really nowhere to walk in downtown, push a stroller or bike without fearing a truck is going to run you over… Do the things people do in cities all over the world.”
Benjamin Feldman, the Miami Worldcenter’s project’s director, concurred: “We are focusing on pedestrians, on people. Look at the sidewalks, and we dedicated back to the city, with plazas, gardens, promenades… 245 thousand square feet for public space. Six acres of privately owned public space.”
Rebecca Solnit, author of Wanderlust, A History of Walking, said: “Walking, witnessing, being in public, are as much part of the design and purpose as is being inside to eat, sleep, make shoes or love or music. The word citizen has to do with cities, and the ideal city is organized around citizenship — around participation in public life.”
To make a good city, urbanist Victor Dover maintains, you need good streets, meaning safe, inviting, and beautiful places where people want to be.
The Greater Downtown, including Brickell, has exploded in the last twenty years to more than 110,000 residents. Those living in the Downtown proper, the combined Central Business District and the Park West neighborhoods, account for half of that population. In addition, we have a daytime population of 250 thousand. And Downtown will have riders coming through the new rail-hub, Miami Central Station. Port Miami is the world’s cruise capital, with annual passenger traffic surpassing five million. So many more people will be coming to Downtown, “and the neighborhood must give them a reason to stay and return,” said Nitin Motwani. “People need places to eat, drink, and enjoy themselves. Downtown needs to provide places for everyday people to have dinner, go shopping or to just hang out in the public places. The Miami Worldcenter is at the confluence of the arts, culture, entertainment, transportation, education, and medicine. We have PAMM, the Frost Science Museum, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the American Airlines Arena, Miami Dade College, and Brightline, all within walking distance. And the UM medical campus is near.”
The Revitalization of the Historic District
Plans for the revitalization of the Flagler District, the historic district — which gives Downtown its unique character, its authenticity, and architectural diversity — looks beautiful in rendering after rendering. But there is a degree of skepticism. One resident pointed out that the Flagler District reminded him of Brazil in the 1970s, everyone said it was the country of the future, and that was the problem, always in the future.
In Downtown we can relive history through our buildings. The question is, Downtown News asked Avra Jain, how can we preserve these buildings, the character, vis a vis the voracious appetite for development?
Avra Jain: It is important to preserve that character because that is our culture. It gives you context. It tells you where you’ve been and gives you the framework on how to move forward. Preservation is actually a public benefit, and it’s important for cities not just to embrace it but to encourage it. The City of Miami has done a good job in providing some incentives, but it's never going to be enough because preservation if you look at it in a spreadsheet will never be the highest investor’s use. You want to build tall buildings, more density. A recent analysis of zoning sees preservation as sustainability. It's not just sustainability from a green infrastructure … So that we understand, when we knock down a building, and you put a LEED certified building in its place, it would take you fifty to eighty years to make up the carbon that you destroyed. (LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a green building certification program used worldwide. LEED provides a framework for healthy, efficient, carbon and cost-saving green buildings.) So, it's not only the sustainable thing to do, but it’s also cultural. We do preservation because we think it’s important that there is a story. But unfortunately, it’s very difficult in the spreadsheet, and many people in development in Miami are looking at the spreadsheets.
Preservation is very difficult in the spreadsheet, and manyRelated article: people in Miami are looking at the spreadsheet.
Related articles:
Revitalization of the Historic District. Aaron DeMayo in conversation with Urban Planner Bernard Zyscovich. Read more.
Miami World Center. Read more.
