Urban Renewal

Detroit reportedly has in excess of 100,000 vacant lots within its borders. At 5,000 square feet minimum we are looking at somewhere between 11 – 12,000 acres of land that is vacant. How many acres of vacant and or abandoned commercial or industrial land is anyone’s guess but it seems that time is overripe for radical proposals for Detroit’s future. With its population of 900,000 headed toward 600-700,000 in the next 20 years Detroit has an opportunity to break from the past and plan for its place in the next century. I believe the City should encourage and relocate people to the neighborhoods that have demonstrated staying power, like the New Center Area, the DMC, Wayne State, the Theater District, Campus Martius and the riverfront thereby saving money on critical services that are budget targets like police, fire, schools, water, sewer and other infrastructure. The resulting vacant lands should be turned back to nature and lie fallow for future use as empowerment zones, parks, gardens and playgrounds. The Renaissance Center which opened in 1974 at a cost of $365,000,000 was supposed to anchor a renaissance in the city but unfortunately this has not happened. What is needed now is a radical vision of the future concretely grounded in realities of today.