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What legislation has been passed to incentivize living seawalls in South Florida?
Three South Florida jurisdictions have passed or proposed laws that directly lower the cost of choosing a living seawall. Miami-Dade County exempted living seawall projects from mandatory environmental mitigation requirements — such as riprap installation — making Kind Designs' product effectively cheaper than traditional alternatives. The City of Miami followed with a 50% discount on building permit fees whenever a living seawall appears in project plans. At the time of recording, the City of Fort Lauderdale was voting on a measure to offer 100% off building permit application fees for projects incorporating a living seawall.
Miami-Dade's exemption: the regulatory move that changed the economics
The most structurally significant measure came from Miami-Dade County. Championed by then-commissioner Eileen Higgins, the county passed a law exempting living seawall projects from mandatory environmental mitigation requirements — including riprap installation. Because these mitigation requirements had previously added cost and complexity to any seawall replacement, removing them for living seawall projects tipped the economic balance. Kind Designs became, in many scenarios, the less expensive option rather than the premium one.
This is the kind of policy lever that transforms a niche product into a mainstream choice — and it's the type of regulatory shift that Anya Freeman discusses in depth in the Beyond Luxury episode. The exemption didn't subsidize the product directly; it removed a structural penalty that had been making the greener option artificially more expensive.
City-level incentives: permits as a policy instrument
The City of Miami went a step further by embedding the incentive into the permitting process itself. Projects that include a living seawall in their plans receive a 50% reduction on building permit fees. This applies directly at the point where developers make construction decisions — a practical, visible signal that the city wants this technology used.
Fort Lauderdale's proposed measure would go even further, offering 100% off building permit application fees. That would make the permit cost effectively zero for any project incorporating a living seawall — a level of incentive rarely seen for a specific infrastructure material. As Freeman explains in this episode of Beyond Luxury, the legislative momentum across the region reflects a growing recognition that the cost of inaction — for a coastline protecting hundreds of billions in real estate — vastly outweighs the cost of smarter infrastructure.
It's worth noting the broader context: 507 cities worldwide face flood risk, and the seawall design still in use across South Florida today dates back to 1904. Legislation like this represents one of the few mechanisms that can accelerate a transition the market alone has failed to produce for over 120 years. A broader look at why that design has persisted — and why it's failing — is laid out clearly in the full Beyond Luxury conversation.
"I knew nothing about being a founder. I didn't know a single person who started a company, genuinely. I just literally Googled climate tech investors and started cold emailing them."
Anya Freeman — Founder & CEO, Kind Designs
Freeman grew up in Ukraine, relocated to Israel, then moved to the United States after her father received a special talent visa to work with a space program. She attended law school at the University of Miami on a full scholarship and built a career as a litigator and prosecutor before walking away from the legal profession entirely. The trigger was simple: her Miami community was flooding, and the legal system had no practical answer. She founded Kind Designs to build 3D-printed living seawalls — a product the industry had never attempted before. The company has since raised $22 million, been named Startup of the Year by Fast Company, and won the Times Innovation Award of the Year. Freeman is also one of the only women, by her own account, operating in an industry that has been male-dominated since the first seawall was built in 1904. The full story of how she built the company from scratch is the subject of episode #49 of Beyond Luxury.
See also
How much funding has Kind Designs raised and who are its investors?
Kind Designs has raised approximately $22 million in total funding, including a $10 million round closed just before the episode was recorded. The most recent round attracted significant New York investor participation — a notable shift for a Miami-based climate tech company.
What are the three key selling points of Kind Designs living seawalls for luxury real estate partners?
Anya Freeman identifies three selling points for luxury partners: sustainability, as many hotel groups and luxury developments have formal sustainability commitments; aesthetics, since the seawalls are visually distinctive; and customization, allowing designs to match the identity of each project — from branded residences to five-star hospitality.
Why have traditional seawalls failed and how long has the industry gone without innovation?
According to Freeman, the first seawall ever installed was built in Galveston in 1904, and the design has not meaningfully changed since — over 120 years without real innovation. Traditional seawalls reflect wave energy entirely rather than dissipating it, accelerating erosion and providing no ecological value.
Key takeaways
- Miami-Dade County removed mandatory mitigation requirements for living seawall projects, making Kind Designs effectively cheaper than traditional seawalls in many scenarios.
- The City of Miami offers a 50% discount on building permit fees for any project that includes a living seawall in its plans.
- Fort Lauderdale was voting, at the time of recording, on a 100% building permit fee waiver — the most aggressive incentive of the three jurisdictions.
- Taken together, these measures represent a coordinated legislative shift that uses cost levers rather than mandates to drive adoption of next-generation coastal infrastructure.