Hundreds of Detroiters pour into an empty warehouse near the New Center section of the City and gather around tables near the floor made of milk crates and plywood boards. As more people settle in, a woman takes the stage to explain what this night is all about. Boiled down to one word, that description [...]
Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus is the official motto of Detroit meaning “We Hope for Better Things; It Shall Rise from the Ashes.” Adopted after the city of Detroit burned to the ground in 1805, Detroiters today are embracing these words and the city’s potential for and successful history of rebuilding and rebranding. ‘Detropia,’ the film [...]
Maybe one of the biggest surprises you’ll find in Detroit is the presence of a great bike culture. This is surprising for two main reasons: Detroit is the Motor City: a major part of your associations with Detroit deal with the auto industry here, and the impacts of the industry’s elite on transportation and infrastructure [...]
The University of Michigan is a world-class university with its main campus in the idyllic small-town Ann Arbor, Michigan. Students and Ann Arbor natives often refer to their little slice of heaven as “28 square miles surrounded by reality.” The reality coming to mind now is the high poverty, crime, and population decline plaguing Detroit, [...]
A big Global Site Plans welcome to our newest blogger, Meg Mulhall from Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan. Meg Mulhall is an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. She calls Kalamazoo, Michigan her hometown but is currently exploring community organizing and urban planning efforts in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan. Planning to pursue a [...]
Months of inspiration for government officials and urban planners are coming to a head in Detroit with the recent introduction of the Future City initiative. Next on the city council’s agenda is a decision on the proposal to sell the Belle Isle park to entrepreneurs for $1 billion. Real estate developer Rodney Lockwood has pitched [...]
A big Global Site Plans welcome to our newest Assistant Editor, Elizabeth Bastian from Dearborn, Michigan. Elizabeth Bastian is currently pursuing a B.A. in Urban and Regional Studies and Anthropology, along with a Certificate in Geographic Information Systems, from the University of Michigan at Dearborn. Growing up in the metro-Detroit area produced in her a [...]
Detroit’s downfall is a storied urban planning nightmare. One largely important factor in the city’s decline is the rapid population exodus it continues to experience. Population loss has resulted in vast amounts of vacant, government-owned land. But what is the solution for a bankrupt city that is the owner of more vacant lots than it [...]
What is the future of Detroit? The answer to that question is deeply intertwined with its past, but also enlightened by its present. Global Site Plans offered me the platform to contribute. I am grateful for the opportunity to share in this dialogue and pose my own questions, such as: What encourages bicycle-use in your community? [...]
“Mobility” is one of the 14 quality of life indicators that Detroit, Michigan will use as a benchmark of success for their long term regional and urban planning. In December 2012, we begged the question: Will the Motor City (Detroit, Michigan) ever relinquish its auto-centric ideals for the benefits of pedal power? What about buses [...]
Architecture alone doesn’t make a vibrant city, you have to activate the store fronts. Despite its assets, during the suburban growth of the 1970′s, 80′s, and 90′s, Detroit found that it could no longer compete with the malls and shopping centers cropping up in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb County. In many ways, the 1998 demolition [...]
Outdated, poorly maintained, and critically disconnected from the streetscape and RiverWalk, COBO Center was well on its way to becoming Detroit’s largest white elephant. At risk of losing its contract for the North American International Auto Show, State and local government leaders arrived at an arrangement regarding the Center’s management and modification. Under the control [...]
“Every citizen has had long associations with some part of the city, and his image is soaked in memories and meanings.” Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City (1960) Twenty-seven years later, a young Tyree Guyton reflected on his associations to the city of Detroit, Michigan. Poverty, drugs, crime, racism, and violence shaped his world. [...]
Architects, urban planners, engineers, and residents realize that Detroit isn’t actually shrinking. The physical boundaries still exist, but, in many areas of the city, the density has been significantly reduced and the vacancy rates increased. Fortunately, land banks can be an effective way to manage this underutilized space and generate tax revenue. According to U.S. [...]
In many ways, Michigan’s current economic climate is distressing to architects and urban designers. Our regional dependence on the automotive industry has left Detroit, Michigan with a major identity crisis, not to mention the visible fissures indicative of a shrinking city. Then again, these conditions also offer design students a unique landscape for urban study, [...]
Once home to the innovations of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, American Electrical Heater Company and General Motors, the New Center area breathes new life into Detroit, Michigans’s entrepreneurial spirit. In April 2004, the partially-renovated Chevy Creative Services building designed by architect Albert Kahn, opened its doors to Detroit’s start-up community as TechOne. The TechTown [...]
Daylighting Detroit, Michigan’s Bloody Run Creek will be no small feat, but it’s a project that truly embodies a new and sustainable direction for the city. St. Louis developer, Richard Baron, has been pitching redevelopment ideas to Detroit since the 1980’s, but until now, nothing’s stuck. Flowing south, just east of downtown and into the [...]
According to Huffpost Detroit, Michigan’s unemployment rate has dropped slightly to 8.8%, while Detroit is hovering at 19% unemployment. Conditions are grim. Architects have been hard-hit by the recession, and unfortunately, our recovery is contingent on the vitality of other industries. When I returned to Michigan in fall 2011, my plan was to find work [...]
Social media is changing the way we live, work, and play. Our networks are larger, our interests broader, and our opportunities more abundant than ever before. Thanks to this dynamic, digital infrastructure, Detroit, Michigan is making a comeback and gaining esteem as a city of possibility. The new direction is small and sustainable. There is a [...]
In February 2012, I wrote a post called Assessing the Damage: Preserving Detroit, Michigan’s Historical Places, describing the delicate balance between restoration and demolition. Incorporating preservation efforts into Detroit Michigan’s priorities is vital, but there will always be the reality of budget cuts, insufficient public services, community needs, and generally, too little, too late. Detroit [...]
