Mapping Neoliberal Urbanism in Historic Districts

The Case of Ocean Drive / Collins Avenue in Miami Beach

EENS 6150 + EENS 6151 | Intro to GIS
Professor Keena M. Kareem
(Tulane University Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences)

In Summer 2024, I completed an intensive GIS course sequence through Tulane’s School of Science and Engineering, focused on developing applied skills in ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro. The curriculum combined lectures with lab work, covering core GIS concepts and technical processes: geographic data models, projections, coordinate systems, geodesy, digital editing, raster analysis, spatial statistics, terrain modeling, and spatial estimation.

For the final project, I used my fieldwork in Miami Beach to produce a GIS-based analysis of my thesis case study: the Ocean Drive / Collins Avenue Historic District. Using authoritative datasets from Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami Beach, I analyzed the district through the lens of neoliberal spatial restructuring. I incorporated Survey123 field data (surveillance and land use observations) into a multilayered analysis that explored ownership types, property values, building ages, and public safety infrastructure, using authoritative datasets from Miami-Dade County to ground the spatial data in verified records.

Key methods included:

  • Digitization and georeferencing of the district boundary

  • Attribute joins across multiple datasets (ownership, value, construction year)

  • 3D extrusion to visualize ownership regimes

  • Buffer and heatmap analysis around surveillance and law enforcement presence

  • Land use mapping and cross-referencing with valuation data

The final outputs—write-up, poster, and StoryMap—demonstrated how GIS tools can visualize the spatial logic of neoliberalism, particularly its influence on historic preservation, surveillance, and speculative real estate patterns in heritage districts.

Catherine Restrepo

Meet Catherine, the former architect who traded blueprints for scuba suits and found a love for exploring ocean depths. Armed with a Nitrox specialty certification she tinkers mad-scientist style to concoct safer gas mixtures for sassier dives below. Currently honing her preservation skills by the river, this captain-in-training dreams of becoming a marine archaeologist out on the high seas. Drawn to water ever since she can remember, Catherine is perfectly proof that you can ditch a landlubber career to survey underwater artifacts and still keep your head above water. Whether cheerfully cursing floods in New Orleans or mapping lost treasures, this future underwater adventurist shows you can be anything your heart and diving compass point to next. The depths are calling and this seafaring conservator intends to dive right in!

New Orleans, LA, USAinfo@madameguignol.com
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