Abstract
Flooding is one of the most common natural disruption in the United State (FEMA, 2006), and even though the probability of its happening is low, it can turn into a disaster with potential large-scale consequences. Being aware of the fact that Long-term sea level rise can increase the risk of erosion and flooding, and in order to reduce the risk of possible damages of flooding for future redevelopment, real estate tends to change its pattern of investment from investigating on coastal areas (Collins and Kearns, 2008) to more inner-city developments (Shokry et al., 2020), which has affected the process of gentrification in coastal areas. This trend – Real estate leaving – has been intensified by increasing the number of homeowners who are willing to moving out of coastal areas as the sea level rises (Treuer et al., 2018). Moreover, since property values are 5–10% lower if located within a flood zone that is not subject to wave action (Bin and Kruse, 2006), poorer populations, who does not have the option to leave, are expected to have more trouble responding to increased flooding (Chakraborty et al., 2014). While the sea level continues to rise due to global warming and despite the fact that proactive investments in adaptive flood protection could reduce financial vulnerability (Treuer et al., 2018) ,the question is whether or not real estate is willing to invest in coastal areas to increase their adaptivity to possible future disruption before it is too late or not. If not, what are the consequences for different groups of residents? Therefore, the aim of this paper will be to understand how real estate will respond to anticipated future sea level rise and how their actions will affect the coastal gentrification. Through an in-depth view of the literature, this research will examine how developers are moving inland away from coastal areas due to climate change and building in minimally higher elevation areas that are predominately lower income and in turn gentrifying those communities. In this paper, we focus on South Florida because it is one of the most financially vulnerable regions in the world as its municipal governments are funded by residential real estate taxes (Treuer et al., 2018). How can communities balance the need for property taxes without gentrifying neighborhoods and what impact will retreat have on coastal communities? Works Cited • Bin O, Kruse J (2006). “Real Estate Market Response to Coastal Flood Hazards”, Natural Hazard Review, ASCE. • Chakraborty, J., Collins, T.W., Montgomery, M.C., Grineski, S.E., 2014. “Social and spatial inequities in exposure to flood risk in Miami, Florida”, Natural Hazards Review. • Collins D, Kearns R, (2008). “Uninterrupted views: real-estate advertising and changing perspectives on coastal property in New Zealand”, Environment and Planning. • FEMA. (2006). http://www.fema.gov/hazard/flood/index.shtm. • Shokry G, Connolly J, Anguelovski I, (2020). “Understanding climate gentrification and shifting landscapes of protection and vulnerability in green resilient Philadelphia”, Urban Climate. • Treuer G, Broad K, Meyer R (2018). “Using simulations to forecast homeowner response to sea level rise in South Florida: Will they stay or will they go?”, Global Environmental Change.
