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For as long as humans have endeavored to build upwards toward the sky, they have also been forced to contend with inexorable laws of nature — ones that are not always so accommodating to our species’ vertical endeavors. In the modern era, that tension is perhaps best exemplified in Florida, where coastal erosion, sinkholes, and other environmental factors have become a constant challenge in the march toward upward construction.

Nearly three dozen structures along Florida’s southern coast sank an “unexpected” amount between 2016 and 2023, according to a report released this month by researchers at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. All told, “35 buildings along the Miami Beach to Sunny Isles Beach coastline are experiencing subsidence, a process where the ground sinks or settles,” the school said in a press release announcing the results of its research. Although it’s generally understood that buildings can experience subsidence “up to several tens of centimeters during and immediately after construction,” this latest study shows that the process can “persist for many years.” What do these new findings mean for Miami-area residents, and our understanding of how to build bigger, safer buildings in general?

‘Not so much about the safety of the occupants’

Layers of limestone and sand “shift under the weight of high-rises and as a result of vibrations from foundation construction,” said The Associated Press, with “tidal flows and construction projects as far away as 1,050 feet” contributing to the observed settling. The territory surveyed for the project also “included Surfside, where the Champlain Towers South building collapsed in June 2021, killing 98 people” although that collapse is widely believed to have been the result of design flaws and material failures. Nevertheless, the study’s authors concluded the 2021 disaster “highlighted the need for monitoring of building stability, especially in coastal areas with corrosive environmental conditions.”

The study is “not so much about the safety of the occupants” of the affected buildings, co-author Esber Andiroglu said to NBC Miami. Instead, the research is meant to highlight the “preservation of resources and containing costly repairs to more manageable maintenance expenses.” Still, the fact that many of the buildings surveyed were completed years before the satellite imagery used for the study was first deployed has raised questions. “All the settlement that was going to occur should have occurred by that time. So they should not have additional settlements,” John Pistorino, a member of the state engineering board, said to the Miami Herald, which highlighted different potential explanations including building weight, climate change, and the location of the structures vis-a-vis underground wells.

‘To be 100% clear, no buildings in Sunny Isles Beach are sinking!’

For now, elected officials and experts are urging patience and caution in the wake of the report’s findings. “Subsidence happens slowly; these buildings are not just going to tip over tomorrow,” said the Miami New Times. However, “left unchecked, uneven sinking can cause cracks, misaligned doors, and other structural problems.”

“To be 100% clear, no buildings in Sunny Isles Beach are sinking!” Sunny Isles Beach Mayor Larisa Svechin said to Newsweek. “All occupied buildings in our city are inspected and receive certificates of occupancy in compliance with the Florida Building Code; consistently rated the safest in the country.”

Even the study’s authors are working to tamp down any panic their research may have caused. “We didn’t want to alarm anybody,” study co-author Professor Gregor Eberli said to NBC Miami. “We just wanted to put out the fact that yes, there is a bit of subsidence going on and we wanted to quantify that.” Still, this latest report comes shortly after a separate study this year found structures along the East Coast were “sinking more than the rate of seawater rise,” said the AP.

As Farzaneh Aziz Zanjani, lead author for the University of Miami’s research said: “The study underscores the need for ongoing monitoring and a deeper understanding of the long-term implications for these structures.”