January 7, 2025
Creative Urbanism
Art & Innovation for Coastal Cities: What We’re Learning from The ReefLine’s Underwater Sculpture Park
Innovative solutions, collaborations and community engagement are essential for coastal cities.
With our Future of Cities HQ based in Miami, coastal resilience is at the heart of our mission to transform urban environments into sustainable, thriving ecosystems. The ReefLine’s 7 mile underwater sculpture park represents a shared commitment to innovation, environmental stewardship, and community engagement while revealing the complexities of implementing such a project with the ocean floor as its canvas. This initiative lays the foundation for cross-sector collaborations merging public art, creative placemaking, marine & material science with regenerative development.
The Power in Cross-Sector Collaboration
Located off Miami Beach, this seven-mile underwater sculpture park offers a regenerative solution to coastal cities while celebrating Miami’s unique cultural identity. The ReefLine is founded on the principle that “artistic creation can pave the way for nature-positive scientific innovation.”
“Making The ReefLine is extremely complex. It takes many different experts coming together. It takes architects, engineers, scientists, artists, policymakers, lawyers. And a lot, a lot of love.”
Ximena Caminos, Founder & Artistic Director of The ReefLine
Collaboration is essential for The ReefLine’s success. Experts from diverse fields, including architects, marine biologists, artists, and engineers are coming together to bring this ambitious project to life.
Why Miami? Coastal Resilience Through Regeneration
“Miami is the Atlantis of our generation, and there’s no better place to prototype solutions like what’s happening here.”
Tony Cho, Founder of Future of Cities
Miami Beach’s unique geography and cultural diversity make it the perfect location for The ReefLine to be deployed as a demonstration of art, ecology & community engagement for nature-positive scientific innovation. The ReefLine’s innovative approach combines the imagination of artists with the observations of scientists, engineers and architects to cultivate ecosystems and connect communities. This project is a testament to the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing coastal climate challenges.
“We strongly feel that this could have only happened in Miami, because I think Miami is a converging point of many cultures, but also land and ocean, art and leisure.”
Shohei Shigematsu, Master Architect OMA NY
The ReefLine serves as a powerful educational and interactive community experience, one which empowers its local and global observers to get involved in expanding their environmental awareness.
Eco-Innovations for Community Engagement
“One of our innovations with Reef Cells and Ocean Rescue Alliance is the Coral Lock. It’s a threaded frag plug where you can simply screw in a coral fragment like a bolt. A ten-year-old could do it.”
Collin Foord, Coral Expert / Marine Biologist – Founder of Coral Morphologic & Coral City Camera
The “Coral Lock System” empowers the community to actively participate in reef restoration. Coral fragments grown in local labs are planted on the reef structures, creating opportunities for people of all ages to contribute directly to Miami’s coastal resilience.
“Architectural processes tend to really focus too much on the physical side, but this kind of scale and great vision actually brings people together like this. That’s kind of the best value of great architectural and urban projects. Doing a master plan underwater, we have to make a kind of infrastructure and cultural infrastructure that could serve humans, but also not only humans, but also for creatures in the ocean.”
Shohei Shigematsu Master Architect / OMA
These innovations combine the imagination of the artists and architects with the observation of science to rebuild ecosystems and connect global communities. This project is a testament to the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing global climate challenges while educating & building community.
A Model for the Future
Future of Cities’ partnership with The ReefLine demonstrates the transformative power of regenerative development. By integrating ecological restoration with cultural expression, this collaboration not only protects Miami’s coastline but also serves as a replicable model for other coastal cities worldwide.
“This project is exactly why we created The Climate & Innovation HUB—to host, support, and cultivate conscious, eco-driven communities using art, culture, and creative vision to tackle the biggest challenges facing our cities.”
Tony Cho – Founder, Future of Cities
The Climate & Innovation HUB
As Miami and other coastal cities navigate the complexities of climate adaptation, The ReefLine offers a beacon of hope. Together, we can create cities that thrive in harmony with nature. Visit the Climate & Innovation HUB powered by Future of Cities in Little Haiti, Miami where you can see, feel and touch the prototypes of the Miami Reef Star, designed by artist Carlos Betancourt and architect Alberto Latorre. These will be deployed in Phase 2 of the underwater sculpture park (2025–2026).
When will we get to experience The ReefLine?
“When the ocean is ready to accept, the artwork will deploy. Thanks to the expertise of Collin Foord and Shelby Thomas, 2,200 corals grown in their coral lab will be planted on The ReefLine structures. We’ll invite the public to join us in this incredible restoration effort.”
Brandi Reddick | Executive Director of The ReefLine
Join the Movement
Learn more about The ReefLine at thereefline.org and join the movement with Future of Cities by subscribing to our newsletter or joining the WhatsApp Community to stay at the cutting-edging of urban innovations for regeneration and transformation.