🚴 Beneath the Rails: The Underline’s Climate Blueprint
Learn how sustainable innovations in “Miami’s Central Park” contribute to a more resilient community.
FEATURED CONTENT:
Watch our latest On Site video feature with The Underline as it transforms transit space into a living model for resilience and sustainability.
On any given day, a ten-mile stretch under Miami-Dade County’s elevated Metrorail system hosts everything from art installations to bike paths to farmers markets and (soon) solar-powered benches as charging stations.
You’ll also find plenty of green space with native plants (500,000+), butterflies, microforests (which we will explain further below), and chickens – yes, chickens.
You can’t get more Miami than The Underline, led by Meg Daly, who had the idea for a shared green space over a decade ago.
“The Underline is more than a park. It is a destination that is uniquely Miami…designed to bring people and our community together,” explains Jake Moskowitz, Chief Revenue Officer for The Underline.
Set beneath the Metrorail, the nonprofit has been repurposing unused land and turning it into an ecosystem for the community. With limited green space in the city's urban core, The Underline is transforming the space using a blend of technology and ecology.
It might be Miami’s own version of Central Park, as you’ll see in our latest On Site video feature.
Nature-Based Innovations
“The Underline is one of the most innovative public spaces in the world. We innovate with technology, but we also innovate with nature-based approaches,” Moskowitz notes.
Using the Japanese Miyawaki method, mini urban forests called microforests grow ten times faster and with four times more biodiversity. Miami will be home to 20 of them.
For stormwater solutions, The Underline has installed bioswales, retention basins, and native plants to soak up water “like a sponge,” filtering runoff and reducing flood risk.
As for the tech used, AI is coupled with cameras along the paths to analyze how people and pets use the space, improving future design and planning. Drones measure tree growth, carbon capture, and even noise reduction. Sensors track air quality, humidity, precipitation, and even pedestrian and cyclist activity. The Underline also offers free public Wi-Fi.
“All of this data gets centralized with the fieldwork we do to tell a much better narrative of the impact that The Underline has on the environment,” Moskowitz adds.
The result is smarter, safer, healthier neighborhoods built for a climate-resilient future.
How Public Space Powers Our Economy
The urban park connects 14 neighborhoods and 150,000 residents — a “connective tissue” that attracts 2.5 million visitors a year.
Moskowitz notes that it is projected to drive $10 billion in economic impact, increasing nearby property values and creating space for small businesses, from food trucks to farmers markets, to pilot ideas and build community right in the corridor. (You can see the upcoming phases of the project here.)
“The Underline is more than a mobility corridor—it’s a blueprint for the kind of community we aspire to build in Miami-Dade: connected, vibrant, and inclusive,” said Rodrick T. Miller, President & CEO, Miami-Dade Beacon Council. “This transformative infrastructure investment advances our goals of transit-oriented development, enhances quality of life, and promotes health and wellness for all residents. It’s a testament to what’s possible when we align visionary urban planning with people-centered economic development.”
More than infrastructure, The Underline is a platform that can be replicated in other parts of Greater Miami.
“It does inspire me to think how this can expand to other parts of Miami because the need to connect communities, to create safer and cleaner infrastructure, is abundant,” he added.
With dog parks, kayak drops, butterfly gardens, amphitheaters, and one of the largest outdoor art galleries, there’s only one way to really understand The Underline:
Go and experience it for yourself.
As Moskowitz notes: “It's all coming together organically, and that's what makes it really special.”
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~ Opportunity Miami