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Most of the urban area is residential. Strips in commercial and industrial land follow major transportation routes. Industrial, extractive sand other urban uses mirror. Land along the fringe of the urban area is used for both row crops and tropical fruit groves.

Agriculture generally terminates at the canals that border the Everglades. Sawgrass wetlands constitute the natural land of the Everglades in the area. The hammocks within the Everglades are sparsely forested with smaller trees.

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Recent land-use changes may be appraised by comparing use as shown on aerial photographs taken in 1963 with use as determined by the 1970 census, aided by photographs taken in 1971. Not all changes are evident on the aerial photographs so that the changes identified do not reflect the total changes of the area.

The change in land use since 1963 is primarily a decrease in open land and an increase in urban built-up land. The numbers for each polygon of change indicate the land use corresponding to that of the 1971 map on the adjacent page, and the colors of the polygons correspond to the 1963 land use. The land use for that part of the map shown in white was the same in 1971. The predominance of shades of green and orange above indicates that much land previously covered by some form of vegetation has changed to urban and built-up land since 1963. A major exception is the areas of sawgrass wetlands which have been drained and converted to agricultural use since 1963. Some forestland has changed to agriculture and to residential and other urban use. The orange polygons are indicative of increases in built-up land in the urban area. In most instances open urban land was converted to residential developments. In general, the residential density has increased in the urban area and urbanization is extending westward into former agricultural land. In turn, new agriculture lands are extending westward into the natural Everglades areas.

In the urbanized area as delineated in the 1970 census of population, residential and commercial land has increased at the expense of agricultural and urban open land.

In the incorporated places about 66 percent of the landuse change has been on the land use changes has been on open urban land, 13 percent on cropland, 7 percent on forestland, and 14 percent on other land uses.

In the unincorporated areas the land-use changes have been on 43 percent of the open urban land, 27 percent on cropland, and 30 percent on forestland.

These percentages refer to the nature of the changes and not to the land use changes as these relate to the total area.

In general the trends show an increasing residential density and a westward expansion of the built-up and agricultural areas encroaching on the natural Everglades area.

Most of the urbanized areas of south Dade County are not included in incorporated communities. [larger image]

Incorporated

Unincorporated

The diagrams of percent of land use in urbanized areas in 1970 show that the unincorporated areas include much more open and agricultural land than the incorporated areas. [click on each pie diagram to view larger image]

Much of south Dade County could be readily developed without additional drainage facilities; however, filling would be necessary in places to raise the surface to the flood-criteria elevations established by Dade County.

Areas in the Everglades and the marshes in the southeastern part of the area are not readily urbanized because of the high water table and periodic flooding. Efforts at the local, state, and federal levels to preserve wetlands probably will inhibit urbanization or other development of much of the wetland area of south Dade County.

If population increases at the projected rate, all readily developable land should be urbanized by the year 2000. [larger image]

New, taller buildings erected in the last decade are increasing urban density in the already developed coastal areas. [larger image]

About one-third of the land most readily urbanized is already developed; much of the remaining two-thirds is used for agriculture. 5/ [larger image]

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