Miami is a major city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. It is the county seat of Miami-Dade County. Miami is a gamma world city with an estimated population of 404,048. It is the largest city within the South Florida metropolitan area, which is the largest metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States with 5.4 million people. Miami and its surrounding cities make up the fifth largest urban area in the United States.^[1]

Miami's importance as an international financial and cultural center has elevated Miami to the status of world city. Because of Miami's cultural and linguistic ties to North, South, and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, Miami is many times referred to as "The Gateway of the Americas." Florida's large Spanish-speaking population and strong economic ties to Latin America also make Miami and the surrounding region an important center of the Hispanic world.

Miami is also home to one of the largest, most influential ports in the United States, the Port of Miami. The port is often called the "Cruise Capital of the World" and the "Cargo Gateway of the Americas". It has retained its status as the number one cruise/passenger port in the world for well over a decade accommodating the largest cruise ships and the major cruise lines.

Today, Miami is undergoing a massive building boom that ranks second worldwide (and first in the United States) for the most buildings under construction that will be over 492 feet (150 m), with over 24 of such buildings currently under construction. Miami's skyline also currently ranks third in the U.S. behind New York City and Chicago (18th in the world) according to the 2006 Almanac of Architecture and Design.^[2] Including other nearby neighborhoods and cities, the Miami area has over 80 highrise towers under construction, such as the Biscayne Wall in Downtown Miami, a row of skyscrapers being built along the west side of Biscayne Boulevard. Miami currently has the five tallest skyscrapers in the state of Florida with the tallest being the Four Seasons Hotel & Tower.^[3]

At 35.68 square miles (92 km²) of land area, Miami is the second smallest primary city of an urban area of one million or more in the U.S. (after Providence, Rhode Island, at 18.5 square miles (48 km²)).^[4] This represents a major gap in the rank of the city, and urban area: The Urban Area is ranked at #5, the city is ranked 38 places lower at #43. The difference between the Urban and Metro population is very small, only 544,821. This is mainly due to the fact that Miami's urban area is built on a very narrow, linear area, and is blocked on the east and west by ocean and national park, respectively. This gives the city an very unusual layout compared to other American cities.

[edit] Economy

The heart of Downtown Miami as seen on February 2, 2007. The ongoing construction throughout the city, as depicted here, has inspired popular opinion suggesting Miami has become a prime example of "manhattanization". Right of center in this image is the Freedom Tower, a historic landmark.

Fireworks display over downtown Miami on American Independence Day, 7-4-07

Miami is one of the country's most important financial centers. It is the major center of regional commerce, and boasts a strong international business community. According to the ranking of world cities undertaken by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC) and based on the level of presence of global corporate service organizations, Miami is considered a "Gamma World City."

Because of its proximity to Latin America, Miami serves as the headquarters of Latin American operations for over 1400 multinational corporations, including American Airlines, Cisco, Disney, Exxon, FedEx, Microsoft, Oracle, SBC Communications, Sony, and Visa International. Several large companies are headquartered in or around Miami, including but not limited to: Alienware, AutoNation, Bacardi, Brightstar Corporation, Burger King, Carnival Cruise Lines, Citrix Systems, DHL, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Ryder Systems, and Spirit Airlines. Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami are among the nation's busiest ports of entry, especially for cargo from South America and the Caribbean. Additionally, downtown Miami has the largest concentration of international banks in the country. Miami was also the host city of the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations, and is one of the leading candidates to become the trading bloc's headquarters.

The Port of Miami, the largest container port in Florida, as well as the "Cruise Capital of the World" and "Cargo Gateway of the Americas".

Tourism is also an important industry: the beaches of Greater Miami draw visitors from across the country and around the world, and the Art Deco nightclub district in South Beach (in Miami Beach) is widely regarded as one of the most glamorous in the world. However, it is important to note that Miami Beach is not a part of the city of Miami. Even major TV networks sometimes forget this, as when Good Morning America visited Miami Beach and Charles Gibson thanked the mayor of Miami (but he was standing next to the mayor of Miami Beach). In addition to these roles, Miami is also an industrial center, especially for stone quarrying and warehousing.

Miami is the home to the National Hurricane Center and the headquarters of the United States Southern Command, responsible for military operations in Central and South America.

Miami has also served as host venue for legendary legal proceedings, most notably the $145 Billion verdict leveled against the nation's 5 largest cigarette manufacturers. This case was a class action on behalf of all afflicted Florida smokers and their families, represented by a prominent and successful Miami-raised husband and wife legal team, Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2004, Miami had the third highest incidence of family incomes below the federal poverty line in the United States, making it the third poorest city in the USA, ahead only by Detroit, Michigan(ranked #1) and El Paso, Texas (ranked #2.) In 2002, Miami had the highest poverty rate.

Miami is also one of the least affordable places to live, with the median percentage of housing costs as a percentage of income was 42.8%; the national average was 27%. Miami ranks twelfth among least affordable cities for home ownership.^[19]

As of 2005, the Miami area is witnessing its largest real estate boom since the 1920s. The newly created Midtown Miami, having well over a hundred approved construction projects is an example of this.^[20]

In August 2007, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development attempted to take control of Miami-Dade County's housing agency, citing mismanagement of housing programs and a poor record keeping of the agency's finances.^[21] These attempts are halted, pending a ruling on a preliminary injunction request by the county; non-binding mediation has also been mandated over the issue.^[22]

See also: List of foreign consulates in Miami.

[edit] People and culture

[edit] Population

 

A map of Miami from 1955

Authentic Cuban dish of ropa vieja (shredded flank steak in a tomato sauce base), black beans, yellow rice, plantains and fried yuca with beer.

Miami is the 43rd most populous city in the U.S. The metropolitan area, which includes Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, with a combined population of more than 5.4 million people, ranks sixth in the United States,^[1] behind Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX and is the largest metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States. As of the census of 2000, there were 362,470 people, 134,198 households, and 83,336 families residing in the city. The population density was 10,160.9/mi² (3,923.5/km²), making Miami one of the more densely populated cities in the country. There were 148,388 housing units at an average density of 4,159.7/mi² (1,606.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city is as follows:

• 66.6% White
• 22.3% African American
• 0.2% Native American
• 0.7% Asian
• less than 0.1% Pacific Islander
• 5.4% from other races
• and 4.7% from two or more races
• 65.8% of the population were Latino of any race.^[24]
• Non-Hispanic whites make up 11.8% of the city's population.^[25]

In terms of national origin and/or ethnic origin, the city is 34.1% Cuban, 22.3% African American, 5.6% Nicaraguan, 5.0% Haitian, 3.6% Puerto Rican and 3.3% Honduran. In 2004, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) ranked Miami first in terms of percentage of residents born outside of the country it is located in (59%), followed by Toronto (43%).

There were 134,198 households out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.6% were married couples living together, 18.7% have a female head of household with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.25.

The age distribution was 21.7% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 30.3% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 98.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $23,483, and the median income for a family was $27,225. Males had a median income of $24,090 versus $20,115 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,128. About 23.5% of families and 28.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.2% of those under age 18 and 29.3% of those age 65 or over.

Based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports Program, Miami ranks as the second most dangerous metropolitan area in the United States, based on the number of murders, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts that have occurred in the metropolitan area. The city proper ranks 14th.^[26]

Miami's explosive population growth in recent years has been driven by internal migration from other parts of the country as well as by immigration. Greater Miami is regarded as a cultural melting pot, while still maintaining some of their cultural traits. The overall culture of Miami and Miami-Dade are heavily influenced by its large population of ethnic Latin Americans and cultures from Caribbeans from islands such as Jamaica, The Bahamas, Cuba and more (many of whom spoke Spanish or Haitian Creole).

[edit] Languages

A wide variety of languages are commonly spoken throughout the city. The City of Miami has three official languages: English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole (French Creole).

As of 2000, speakers of Spanish as their first language accounted for 66.75% of residents, while the mother tongue of English was spoken by 25.45%, French Creole made up 5.20%, and French comprised 0.76% of the population.^[27]

Other languages that were spoken throughout the city include Portuguese at 0.41%, German at 0.18%, Italian at 0.16%, Arabic at 0.15%, Chinese at 0.11%, and Greek at 0.08% of the population. Miami also has one of the largest percentage populations in the U.S. that have residents who spoke first languages other than English at home (74.54%.)^[27]

Today there are sizable permanent resident and undocumented populations of Argentines, Bahamians, Brazilians, Canadians, Chileans, Chinese, Colombians, Cubans, Dominicans, Ecuadorans, French, German, Greeks, Haitians, Hondurans, Jamaicans, Indians, Italians, Mexicans, Nicaraguans, Russians, Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Turks, South Africans, and Venezuelans, as well as a sizeable Puerto Rican population throughout the metropolitan area. While commonly thought of as mainly a city of Hispanic and Caribbean immigrants, the Miami area is home to large French, French Canadian, German, Italian, and Russian communities. The communities have grown to a prominent place in Miami and its suburbs, establishing area neighbourhoods such as Little Haiti, Little Havana, Little Managua, and Little San Juan.

[edit] Media

Miami is served by two major English-language newspapers, The Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel, as well as two major Spanish-language newspapers, El Nuevo Herald and Diario Las Americas.The Miami Herald is Miami's primary newspaper with over a million readers focusing mainly on issues that affect the Miami and Miami-Dade area. It also has news bureaus in Broward County, Monroe County, and Nassau, Bahamas. It publishes daily Monroe County, Nassau, and International Editions along with the daily Miami-Dade edition.

Miami is the 12th largest radio market and the 17th largest television market in the U.S. Television stations serving the Miami area include WAMI (Telefutura), WBFS (My Network TV), WSFL (The CW), WFOR (CBS), WHFT (TBN), WLTV (Univision), WPLG (ABC), WPXM (ION), WSCV (Telemundo), WSVN (FOX), WTVJ (NBC), WPBT (PBS), WLRN (also PBS) and WSBS Mega TV

See also: