Why is it that the most valuable land in Kingston is far away from the coast? In most modern metropolises all the most valuable land is right on the coastline. Kingston has had it backwards for a very long time.
Not anymore it seems.
New reporting out of the Washington Post and studies from Harvard, the Journal of Financial Economics and the non-profit First Street Foundation are all saying the same thing – Sea Levels have been rising for the past 100 years, faster in the last 25. And they will continue to rise for the next 100 years, even by as much as 1.3 metres (4.3 feet).
Areas of Kingston 21 like Miami Beach are only 0.7 metres above sea level putting them in impending danger.
Climate Gentrification is the study of how consumers are changing purchasing habits by increasing the values of land at higher elevation more rapidly, while land values at lower elevation either decreases or grows slowly.
Researchers estimate that the Miami-Dade area itself has lost nearly half a billion US$ (US$500mln) in value in just a dozen years.
What does this mean for the development of low elevation development in Jamaica? Areas like downtown Kingston, South St. Catherine, Ocho Rios and Savanna-La-Mar, for example? It means planners need to take such things into consideration when making zoning plans for future development.
Read more:
Sea level rise is eroding home value, and owners might not even know it
Climate gentrification: from theory to empiricism in Miami-Dade County, Florida
Content Provided by: Mdk Advisory & Consulting Ltd., a strategic advisory firm offering a wide range of services to a cross-section of clients in the private, public and non-profit sectors