Florida's coastal cities turn to innovative designs to survive rising seas

When Hurricane Andrew tore the roof off Jeffrey Huber's childhood home in 1992, he was 12 years old. The Category 5 storm damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of structures across southern Florida, leaving Huber's family reliant on food donations for six weeks and in a trailer for over a year.

That experience shaped his career. Now a landscape architect and professor at Florida Atlantic University, Huber is part of a broader movement across Florida to redesign how coastal communities withstand extreme weather.

"The question isn't about how we stop water, but it's how we live on, with and over it," he said.

Nearly 40% of the U.S. population — about 129 million people — lives in coastal counties. Research indicates human-driven sea level rise has increased the frequency of extreme coastal flooding worldwide. In response, Florida has become a testing ground for adaptive design.

One example is the Vista Breeze affordable senior housing project in Miami Beach, where Huber served as principal architect. The 119-unit complex sits 10 feet above sea level and is engineered to handle storm surges up to 20 feet. Its concrete contains a crystalline waterproofing powder, and zinc-coated rebar resists corrosion. The buildings are oriented to catch prevailing breezes for passive cooling, and design choices encourage stair use over elevators.

Further north, a former parking lot in Fort Lauderdale now serves as DC Alexander Park, a public space that doubles as flood infrastructure. A native maritime forest along its perimeter absorbs rainfall and saltwater flooding while offering habitat and recreation.

Entrepreneurs are also entering the field. Anya Freeman, a former lawyer, founded Kind Designs in 2024 after repeated flooding in Miami Beach made her car uninsurable. The startup produces 3D-printed living seawalls designed to mimic natural coastal features like mangrove roots. The walls dissipate at least 45% of wave energy and create habitat for native species. Researchers found 51 species living on one wall a year after installation. The company has installed 16 seawalls across Florida and plans expansions in California, New York, and for the U.S. Navy.

Larger-scale proposals face funding hurdles. Aaron DeMayo, founder of Future Vision Studios, has spent about a decade developing The Coastline, a regional resilience plan for southern Florida. He argues the investment is justified by the vast amount of property at risk.

At the University of Miami's Center for Urban and Community Design, director Thomas Klein is addressing a gap in support for lower-income communities seeking climate resilience projects. The center is developing a community design fund to help residents implement impactful solutions. Klein advocates for multi-purpose infrastructure — roads that also manage stormwater, parks that absorb flooding.

Huber's 2024 design manual, "Salty Urbanism," documents these approaches. He believes the strategies being tested in Miami will become increasingly relevant globally as sea levels continue to rise.

"The ideas that we're working on here... are going to become increasingly relevant to any coastal cities around the world," he said.