From a historical perspective, Miami's location has long been one of the least favorable for the emergence of a major city.
Big cities emerge when they are in the right place, at the right time. Whether the time is right is determined by transportation, technology and geography.
In the United States, the first major cities, such as New York, Boston, and New Orleans, all had good, natural ports. These were pre-industrial times.
Transportion on land was confined to horse and cart, and waterborne trade and commerce dominated everything. As we know, Miami is not blessed with a deep natural harbor, nor does it have a river that leads into a significant hinterland.
With the invention of the industrial revolution and the railways, the urban system in the United States quickly expanded.
Cities were no longer confined to coastal locations.
They emerged near natural resources or at rail-waterway junctions.
Examples of new big cities include Pittsburgh and Chicago.
Without proximity to natural resources or a significant hinterland, Miami was not connected by rail to the north until 1896.
This was considerably later than San Francisco and Los Angeles and a few other cities on the west coast of the United States.
But even after Miami was finally hooked up to the continental railway system, it remained a small town.
The next phase came with the invention of the combustible engine, and the introduction of automobiles, early in the 20th century.
Again, the criteria for urban growth widened.
Many cities emerged that were close enough to be integrated in the U.S. urban system, even if they lacked ports, natural resources, or rail-waterway junctions.
Examples are cities like Phoenix and Atlanta.
No city in the United States is more emblematic of the automobile era than Los Angeles, still reflected in its immense freeway system and long commutes.
Los Angeles grew from 100,000 inhabitants in the year 1900 to 1 million in 1920.
By then it was already much bigger than San Francisco and it was counted among the largest cities in the country.
The introduction of automobiles, nationwide, did of course have an effect on Miami.
Our own "historic" Coral Gables - it was founded in the 1920s - stands out as an example of residential suburbs planned in that time period for affluent automobile owners.
With its broad, winding streets cutting through lush vegetation - and without sidewalks - it was considered ideal for leisurely drives around the neighborhood.
Nonetheless, unlike other newly prominent cities that were closer to the rest of the U.S. urban system, Miami still did not become a significant city at this time.
Its population growth remained modest.
W hen Los Angeles crossed the 1-million-mark in 1920, metropolitan Miami counted only 40,000 people.
Miami's location was too far out, even with automobiles.
It took another half-century, until the early 1970s, for Miami's population to reach that magic number of 1 million.
And it took another revolution in transportation technology: airplanes.
Other factors were in play as well - mainly Cubans and air-conditioners - but it was the advent of mass air travel and air transport that allowed Miami to take its place on the map.
With this new transportation technology, the city could become integrated at once with the continental United States and, especially, with cities and regions beyond the shores.
If we characterize cities in terms of their historical origins, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are emblematic for, respectively, the era of the sail, rail and automobile.
Miami, like no other city in the United States, symbolizes the latest stage in the evolution of transport technology, that of airplanes.
And this explains the city's unique orientation toward the Caribbean and South America.
To this day, many of us who live in Miami never set foot in a long-distance train - nor would we if it went at 120 mph - and we don't very often leave the Miami-Dade/Broward area by car.
Instead, we head for the airport.
Jan Nijman is a professor of Geography at the University of Miami. His column on Miami's place in the "world city" hierarchy appears in each issue of WorldCity.