Journal of Law and Political Economy

This article examines how the enduring legacies of racial capitalism and discriminatory land policies shape climate vulnerability and adaptation in US cities, using Miami as a primary example. It highlights how flooding and heat waves disproportionately impact marginalized, historically disinvested neighborhoods, which are further threatened by displacement resulting from “climate gentrification.” Miami illustrates these dynamics, as affluent residents relocate from vulnerable coastal zones to higher-elevation, previously segregated neighborhoods, driving investment and property value increases that endanger longtime residents with displacement. The article explores how factors such as land use policy, zoning, and public investments embed racialized landscapes and drive displacement risk in these communities. The article calls for “just adaptation economies” that embed antidisplacement measures in resilience investments, support community ownership and stewardship of land instead of speculative development in historically marginalized neighborhoods, and prioritize policies that counteract persistent social and spatial inequities. The article explores a few examples of where adaptation economies are emerging through designated justice-oriented green urban development zones.