ABSTRACT

Census estimates in 2019 placed the foreign-born population of the City of Miami Beach at just over 50%, similar to that of the larger City of Miami. These are probably low estimates, as undocumented residents are numerous and even some recent legal immigrants avoid census-takers and make themselves invisible. Racist and xenophobic forces have set in motion a wave of reactionary politics based in White nationalism and hatred. In the early 2000s, a young colleague, fresh from a prestigious graduate school of planning, was working for a nonprofit community development group in a historically Black neighborhood in Miami. In helping communities organize, planners have a responsibility to set an inclusive tone while building their own cultural competency and opening to culturally attuned planning processes and creative ways of thinking and working. Helping communities work better together and putting in place and rebuilding infrastructure are long-term work.