If cities are living entities, then there comes a time when they have to grow up. And in Miami, you can palpably feel that this is a place preparing to take on its mantle of metropolitan manhood at the frisky age of just 108 years old. No wonder, then, that our judges voted it the best city of 2004.
Indeed, as hotelier André Balazs says: 'Miami is particularly exciting right now, because it's on the cusp of something even greater.' Writer David Leddick, based in the city, goes one further when he says: 'Miami is the New York of the 21st century.'
After years of being little more than an Art Deco beach resort with a no-go area attached, the US's southern metropolis is shedding its pastel-clad Miami Vice reputation to become the de facto capital of Latin America. The metropolitan area is now effectively bilingual (the future is Spanglish). It has the third largest Jewish population of any city in the US, and French is commonly heard thanks to the many Quebecois who flee here to escape their harsh winter. It is also one of the world's sexiest cities - and the superabundance of gorgeous bronzed flesh glistening in the tropical heat means libidinous thoughts always lurk just under the surface.
The economy is lusty, too. Migration to Florida, by both US and foreign nationals, makes this is one of the fastest growing states in the Union. Downtown Miami has established itself as an important banking centre - and not just for Colombian drug dollars (although these illegal millions certainly don't harm the economy). Its port is one of the largest in the world, with more than 3 million people passing through it each year. And the city's coffers are swelled still further by the 14 million or so tourists who visit each year. Even the unlikely string of hurricanes that hit the Florida coast in summer this year seems to have done little to dent the region's appeal.
Thanks to all this, Miami's once-grubby downtown area is being given a billion-dollar clean-up, designer condos are sprouting up along the shores of Biscayne Bay and a new generation of luxury hotels is booking into Miami Beach. Meanwhile, a world-class selection of private art collections, plus Art Basel's annual winter-sun Miami incarnation, have turned the city into one of the hottest cultural destinations in the country.
One example of Miami's renaissance is the rebirth of the Design District, just north of the city centre. The man largely behind this phenomenon is Craig Robins, who, as with the likes of Rockefeller before him, is living proof that American cities are best built according to one man's vision. Robins is no stranger to urban regeneration, having, along with Chris Blackwell, masterminded the revival of South Beach through hotel projects such as the Marlin and Tides.
Robins moved into the Design District in the 1990s, announcing a radical programme of gentrification, with a strong emphasis on public spaces and art. And although the area still has a way to go before it reaches its full potential, he has already succeeded in transforming it into what The Rough Guide describes as a 'temple to the Wallpaper* lifestyle of conspicuous but elegant consumption', with the opening of shops such as Knoll and the Alison Spear-designed showroom for Holly Hunt.
The beautiful people are moving in, lured by hip neo-tiki restaurant Grass and the collection of funky young art galleries such as Placemaker and the Kevin Bruk Gallery. And spearheading the residential redevelopment of the district is Terence Riley, the curator of MoMA in New York, who under Robins'auspices is building himself an experimental house, which he hopes will encourage a stream of young urbanists into the area.
Art is big news in Miami, especially since the city began hosting Art Basel's December gathering two years ago. This has since become the highlight of the social calendar, and features widespread exhibitions and parties. One of the biggest is co-hosted in the Design District by Robins and millionaire collector Rosa de la Cruz.
On Allison Island on the opposite side of Biscayne Bay, Robins is completing Aqua, a residential development on the site of the hospital where he was born. In keeping with his belief in 'new urbanism'-creating communities rather than impersonal condo blocks-he has hired a collection of eminent architects, such as Walter Chatham and the Hariri sisters, to design a collection of town houses and condominiums, which willhave a huge artwork by Richard Tuttle - his first public work - as its centrepiece.
Robins also has plans to open a museum in the Design District to house all the artworks he has acquired, from Haring to Hirst. This is an honoured Miami tradition. The impressive Rubell Family Collection, just to the south, is housed in an ex-Drug Enforcement Administration storage facility (strangely apt, considering the cocaine capers of Uncle Steve of Studio 54 fame).
Elsewhere, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), in North Miami, supports young local artists and hosts excellent travelling exhibitions. Coverage in newspapers such as The New York Times means it is now seen as one of the leading contemporary art spaces on the Eastern seaboard.
While MOCA was designed by Charles Gwathmey, Miami now boasts its own new generation of architects with plans to reshape the city, helped by a building boom that is seeing structures shoot up all over. Chad Oppenheim, 32, is one such architect, and his renderings of a series of condo developments overlooking the causeways leading to the beach are shining examples
of high-rise luxury living. Work is already in progress on the Ten Museum Park development in downtown Miami, which will include a La Prairie spa.
Miami Beach is also the location for three of next year's most anticipated hotel openings - the Setai, the Victor and the Standard Miami. The Setai, next door to The Shore Club at the northern end of South Beach, is the tallest building on the waterfront. Indeed, so horrified were local dignitaries at its size that they quickly passed new regulations to ensure it will never be overtaken. The 40th floor houses the penthouse, which has stunning views and a full-size swimming pool on the terrace. When it opens in early 2005, it will undoubtedly be one of the world's finest suites. The Setai itself is being run by Adrian Zecha of the Aman group and promises to be the most expensive hotel in Miami Beach.
On Belle Island in Biscayne Bay, André Balazs is opening an East Coast branch of his LA Standard, although this has been delayed by the weather. Located just off the Venetian Causeway in the old Lido Spa Hotel building, it shows how Miami Beach is no longer a two-street strip along the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, Hyatt's Victor Hotel is conveniently situated on Ocean Drive, next to the Versace mansion. The murdered fashion designer's pleasure palace is now a private members' club.
Outside its Medusa gates, late-night revellers crowd the pavement, while gorgeous Latinas sport albino pythons, creating a scene like a Carl Hiaasen novel come to life. Strangely, it is this area's very tackiness that has helped encourage Miami's new lease of life, by forcing the hip, clever money to explore elsewhere, as investors seek the next big thing. And what they are creating is definitely giving Miami the right to claim to be the next world city.
