Florida shows how to adapt as coastal cities face growing threats from sea level rise and storms

One day there was a roof. The next morning it was gone.

Jeffrey Huber still remembers the day some 34 years ago when Hurricane Andrew blew off the roof of his childhood home, one of tens of thousands damaged and destroyed across southern Florida. For days, first responders couldn't get to them. For a month and a half, they relied on food donations. For more than a year, he lived with his family in a trailer.

“It wasn’t just about the storm itself, but it was about the aftermath of that storm and how we begin to design for those aspects,” said Huber, a landscape architect and professor who was 12 in 1992 when the Category 5 hurricane hit. "We are seeing extreme storms, extreme scenarios like this that are becoming much more common."

Some 129 million people — nearly 40% of the U.S. population — live in coastal counties. Recent research shows that a rise in sea level driven by humans has increased the frequency of extreme coastal flooding around the world.

As climate change threatens communities, Florida is showing how to build to adapt. Throughout the state, architects and designers are merging infrastructure with urban design to create residential buildings, parks and more. The goal is to better withstand rising waters, worsening storms, saltwater intrusion, heat heaves and other climate impacts.

“In places like Miami, we’re dealing with a combination of tidal flooding, storm surge and long-term sea level rise," said Huber, professor in the School of Architecture at Florida Atlantic University. "So the question isn’t about how we stop water, but it’s how we live on, with and over it.”

As global average temperatures climb because of fossil fuel emissions, so do sea levels, making low-lying coastal cities vulnerable to flooding.

Frequent flooding and intensifying storm surges got so bad in Miami Beach that when it rained, Anya Freeman rushed home to move her car because her street filled with knee-deep water and she couldn't get car insurance for flooding.

"But nobody was doing anything practical about it," she said. So in 2024, she left behind her career as a lawyer to launch Kind Designs, a startup creating 3D-printed living seawalls to protect shorelines from flooding.

These seawalls are meant to be affordable so they can be scaled, and also serve as marine habitat. They're made faster and with a nontoxic concrete mixture and can be custom shaped for the ecosystems where they're installed. On a recent August day, workers in neon-green shirts and yellow construction hats installed one mimicking mangroves at a waterfront church in Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami.

Traditional seawalls are flat, but theirs can be designed to mimic natural coastal features like the mangrove roots you'd find in Miami or barnacle clusters in New York.

“We have a whole library of designs for different marine habitats, and the point is to attract the native species... create caves where they can hide from predators and also to dissipate waves," she said.

Their technology dissipates at least 45% of wave energy, making it more resilient to overtopping and erosion. On one wall, researchers from Florida International University identified 51 species living in it one year after installation, including filter feeders like oysters and tubeworms that clean water.

They've since installed 16 living seawalls across Florida for residential, commercial and government clients, she said. Soon they'll put their first ones in California and New York and will be fortifying coastal bases for the U.S. Navy.

The Vista Breeze affordable senior housing project in Miami Beach by the architectural firm Brooks Scarpa Huber is a real-world application of how to live with the threats of water.

The 119-unit, two-building complex is elevated 10 feet (3.05 meters) from sea level and is designed to withstand storm surges of up to 20 feet (6.10 meters). Concrete is mixed with a crystalline, water-proof powder that blocks water from penetrating into it, protecting structures and extending their life. Rebar coated in zinc shields it from rust and corrosion.

They're “some of the most simple, easy steps and they don’t cost that much,” said Huber, the project's principal architect. “But they’re going to make our buildings more resilient starting up front.”

From a heat-mitigation standpoint, the buildings are oriented southeast to the prevailing breezes, passively cooling themselves.

There are also community rooms, courtyards and terraces to promote socializing. The elevators are hidden, and the stairs made prominent to encourage their use.

About 30 miles north, a former parking lot was transformed into a public space that doubles as flood infrastructure. DC Alexander Park in Fort Lauderdale has a 25-foot artistic overlook that provides shade on hot days.

Along the park's perimeter, a native maritime forest absorbs rainfall and saltwater flooding while providing recreational opportunities and species habitat.

These designs build on Huber's research on adapting coastal cities to rising seas, which he wrote about in his 2024 design manual “Salty Urbanism.”

Miami, he said, is a testing ground for it.

“The ideas that we’re working on here... designing for, you know, these extreme scenarios like 5, 9 feet of sea level rise are going to become increasingly relevant to any coastal cities around the world," he said.

Financing, policy and community support are just some of the challenges architects and urban planners face with implementation.

About a decade ago, architectural designer, urban planner and Future Vision Studios founder Aaron DeMayo began developing The Coastline, a regional resilience master plan proposal to protect Southern Florida from storm surge and sea level rise.

Funding it will have a large price tag, but “the need and the urgency I think merits this type of infrastructure solution,” he said.

“We have a massive amount of low-lying property and property that could be impacted from storm surge," he said. "And what we’re presenting here is going to have a very large return on investment because we’re protecting hundreds of miles of direct waterfront property, as well as property behind that waterfront property.”

At the University of Miami’s Center for Urban and Community Design — founded after the 1992 hurricane that damaged Huber’s home — designer, architect and the center's director Thomas Klein is working to address a problem: a lack of assistance to help lower-income communities afford climate resilient projects.

They're putting together a community design fund that would do a call out for project proposals, work with communities to identify which would have the most impact, then bring in university experts to help develop them with residents.

For Klein, funding scarcity for climate resilient infrastructure is an opportunity to build in a way that provides multiple services.

“In 2026, is it acceptable to just build a road to move cars? Or does the road need to also move bicyclists and have a bus rapid transit lane, but also manage stormwater and ameliorate for heat island issues?" he said. This fall, they're also launching an initiative to conceptualize and design “sponge parks” in South Florida that use green and other infrastructure to absorb rain and manage stormwater.

Florida is a challenging regulatory environment, he added, but the solutions evolving there are “uniquely replicable” to other states. “Because we have to rely on a narrower band of potential approaches to actualizing solutions for resilience in our cities, that those solutions might be a little bit more, I guess, resilient.”

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Aaron DeMayo, founder of Future Vision Studios, walks along Biscayne Bay, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Aaron DeMayo, founder of Future Vision Studios, holds a plan for The Coastline, a regional resilience masterplan proposal to protect Southern Florida from storm surge and sea level rise Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Thomas Klein, director of the University of Miami's Center for Urban and Community Design, poses for a photograph Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

The Vista Breeze affordable senior housing project, designed by the architectural firm Brooks Scarpa Huber, is elevated 10 feet from sea level, and is a real-world application of how to live with the threats of water Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Workers install a 3D-printed living seawall manufactured by Kind Designs at the Church by the Sea, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Anya Freeman, CEO and co-founder of KIND Designs, poses for a photograph with 3D-printed living seawalls Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

A 3D-printed living seawall is manufactured at the Kind Designs facility Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

A 3D-printed living seawall is manufactured at the Kind Designs facility Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Workers install a 3D-printed living seawall manufactured by Kind Designs at the Church by the Sea, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

DC Alexander Park, a former parking lot that was transformed into a public space that doubles as flood infrastructure, is visible alongside the beach Wednesday, August. 7, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Daniel Kozin)

A girl swings at a playscape at DC Alexander Park, a former parking lot that was transformed into a public space that doubles as flood infrastructure, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

A shadow of a palm tree is cast on a playscape at DC Alexander Park, a former parking lot that was transformed into a public space that doubles as flood infrastructure, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

FILE - Rows of damaged houses sit between Homestead and Florida City, Fla., Aug. 25, 1992. (AP Photo/Mark Foley, File)

Jeffrey Huber, a landscape architect and professor, poses for a photograph at DC Alexander Park, a former parking lot that was transformed into a public space that doubles as flood infrastructure, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Workers install a 3D-printed living seawall manufactured by Kind Designs at the Church by the Sea, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Instead of adding new roses, President Donald Trump’s White House Rose Garden is growing statues.

Trump put statues of some of America’s founders in the garden just off the Oval Office after he replaced its plush lawn with a white stone patio, turning the historic outdoor space into a look-alike of the one at his Mar-a-Lago home and private club in Palm Beach, Florida.

At least one statue was a gift. Others are on loan from people who wish to remain anonymous.

The latest addition, a bronze depiction of a seated Thomas Jefferson signing the Declaration of Independence, was a gift from George Lundeen, a sculptor from Loveland, Colorado. It joins statues already displayed there of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Ben Franklin. A fifth sculpture named “Freedom’s Charge” is also on the patio.

The statues are part of Trump’s sweeping series of White House renovations, from his gilded makeover of the Oval Office to the ballroom and helipad that the Republican president is having built on the south grounds. These projects fit into Trump’s broader plan to leave his mark on downtown Washington through other construction projects, including a statue garden on federal land near the National Mall.

Lundeen said he made the sculpture of Jefferson, the third U.S. president, decades ago and kept it at his ranch until he decided to spruce it up and send it to Trump for display at the White House in time for July Fourth celebrations of America's 250th birthday. Steven Barber, his friend and collaborator, had reached out to contacts at the White House on Lundeen's behalf.

“I thought it would just be a real nice thing on the 250th for people to look at Thomas Jefferson as he was writing the Declaration of Independence,” Lundeen said in a telephone interview.

But the statue did not get to the White House in time. Barber said it was stuck on a truck partly because of heavy security around the celebratory events. Trump was shown photos and liked the sculpture so much that he decided to put it in the Rose Garden.

When the president called Lundeen to thank him, he got voicemail. After the holiday, Lundeen's office manager insisted he listen to one message in particular.

“Hi, George. It's your favorite president, Donald Trump, and I just wanted to thank you,” the president said on the recording, which Lundeen shared with The Associated Press. “The sculpture, it looks really beautiful ... just by the picture I can see it's really incredible, and we have a wonderful place right in the Rose Garden, and I appreciate it.”

Barber said in a separate telephone interview that he had been calling the White House for months to discuss the statue but got little in the way of a response until about three weeks before Independence Day, when in came a “flurry of emails saying they wanted it.”

Details on the other statues added to the Rose Garden are relatively sparse.

The statue of Washington, America’s first president, was lent by Harlan Crow, the White House said. Representatives for the Texas-based real estate tycoon and GOP megadonor, who made headlines in recent years for his friendship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, did not respond to email messages from the AP seeking comment.

A third statue, "Freedom's Charge,” a 14-foot-tall (4.3-meter-tall) bronze sculpture of two Revolutionary War soldiers separated by a flag, was relocated from Dallas. Chas Fagan, the sculptor, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

The Franklin and Hamilton statues are from anonymous donors, according to the White House.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle explained Trump's fondness for statues by saying that no other president has done more to beautify the White House and its surroundings.

"From restoring our treasured landmarks, which had suffered years of abuse and vandalism, to cleaning our parks and the Reflecting Pool, President Trump’s bold vision ensured that America rang in its 250th birthday celebration with glory and pride,” Ingle said in an emailed statement that referenced Trump's troubled effort to spruce up the pool near the Lincoln Memorial.

He said Trump continues to make “long-overdue and necessary” renovations to the White House.

"Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come,” Ingle said.

Next door to the White House, Trump had a statue of Christopher Columbus installed on the grounds of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in March.

More recently, the National Park Service installed a series of sculptures of Revolutionary-era subjects and themes at a plaza near the White House.

Trump's marquee statue plan involves building a National Garden of American Heroes near the National Mall that would feature sculptures of 250 Americans who have made significant cultural, political and other historical contributions to the United States. Several preservation and cultural heritage organization have sued to block the project, arguing that Congress must first authorize it.

Barber said he and Lundeen are “in the mix” to make statues for that garden, too.

At his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump has on display a 7-foot (2.1-meter) bronze sculpture depicting him with his fist raised after the 2024 assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It was also made by Lundeen and was given to Trump by Anthony Constantino, a businessman and Republican congressional candidate from New York.

The White House has long been a showcase for art, perhaps no work more famous than the Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington that hangs in the East Room and was saved by first lady Dolly Madison after the British set the White House on fire during the War of 1812.

Presidents have access to the White House's vast art collection. Trump has said he went to the “vaults” and found the presidential portraits and other art he hung in the Oval Office and in other rooms in the White House. Portraits of former presidents and former first ladies also adorn hallways and public rooms in the mansion.

In Trump's first term, first lady Melania Trump installed a piece by Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi near the Rose Garden, making him the first Asian American artist to be featured in the White House collection.

Before that, then-first lady Michelle Obama's renovation of the Old Family Dining Room in 2015 included the addition of a painting by Alma Thomas, who was the first African American female artist to have her work added to the collection.

FILE - A statue of Ben Franklin is seen as servers prepare the Rose Garden for a dinner after President Donald Trump hosted the 2026 College Football Playoff national champions Indiana University on the South Lawn of the White House, May 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - A bronze statue of President George Washington is seen at the edge of the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump walks on the red carpet in the Rose Garden with Britain's King Charles III, Queen Camilla and first lady Melania Trump at the White House, April 28, 2026, in Washington, during a State Visit. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - A statue of Alexander Hamilton is seen in the Rose Garden at the White House, March 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - A bronze depiction of Thomas Jefferson seated and signing the Declaration of Independence is seen before President Donald Trump speaks during an event to honor the 2025 World Series champions Los Angeles Dodgers in the Rose Garden of the White House, July 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)