The times—specifically, the sea levels—are a changin'. Luckily, Harvard's Graduate School of Design has just launched a new initiative, the Office for Urbanization, to start amassing design research for new urban realities for cities around the world. The Office is described as being "a venue for the advancement of knowledge on the role of design research in relation to the social and environmental challenges associated with ongoing urbanization." The first project for the Office takes on the challenges facing Miami Beach.

As founding director Charles Waldheim, the John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture, explained, “This foundational project of the Office for Urbanization will examine the implications of rising sea levels and increased storm events on the economy and ecology, infrastructure and identity of Miami Beach in relation to its metropolitan and regional contexts. The study will develop design strategies and scenarios to mitigate present threats and to anticipate future potentials facing one of the world’s most recognizable and singular cultural landscapes.”