Deciduous Detroit: Reframing Resilience

DECIDUOUS DETROIT REFRAMING RESILIENCY

the bernard and anne spitzer school of architecture spring 2017 - thesis studio critic: lance brown Kate Bender

Evan Craker

Liz Christian

13 11

2

1800

1

34

22

23

20

21

19

10

35

45

46

33

43

44

32

41

42

30

31

40

29

38

8

17

18

28

7

15

16

27

37

6

14

26

36

2000

3

9

25

1950

4

12

1900

5

24

39

53

60

71 61

70

52

84

77

83

67

76

82

66

74

51

59

50

57

49

56

64

55

63

2025

47

2020

78

68

58

2030

48

85

69

65

75

81

73

80

72

79

2070

62

2045

54

86

“We are told that this new atomic age, just around the corner, will change life on earth in the next fifty years more than it has ever been changed since the days of Ruth in the fields of Boaz.

If this be true, then our Detroit of today will look to our grandchildren fifty years from now as we today look on Babylon, Nineveh, Carthage, Rome - places that once were, of which traces are still left, but which are not understandable. [...]

What the Detroit of fifty years from now will be we do not know. But one thing is certain: it will be dynamic. It is a destiny we cannot escape. The lads from the machine shops and the designing boards, the laboratories and the assembly lines will take the atom in their stride.

They have the ‘know-how’.”

Malcolm W. Bingay, Detroit is My Own Home Town. (Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merill, 1946) p.358-60 accessible @ https://archive.org/stream/detroitismyownho00bingrich/

1. AREA OF FOCUS In order to study the impact of proposed forest and farm zones at each ring of development and social stratum within Detroit, we chose to cut a swath along Grand River Avenue, a radius which runs from the thriving downtown core through the ailing midsection and to the stable outlying neighborhoods of the city. Once an important commercial corridor, Grand River is now a largely underutilized 7 lane emblem of Detroit’s overall condition - bustling downtown, desolate through the core and leafy at the outskirts. The resulting 1 mile x 15 mile swath contains several zones earmarked by the Detroit Future City plan for ecological zoning.

YEAR 0 - 2020

YEAR 50 - 2070

2. THE SWATH OVER TIME At Year 0, all existing buildings within the swath are shown. At Year 50, all buildings currently classified as damaged or in need of significant repair within proposed ecological zones have been removed as well as 60% of structures in good condition.

This predicted result assumes that the will and funding required to repair structures at risk will be limited within zones slated for suspension of city services and that for many, a government buy-out will be an attractive alternative to living within a forest or farm zone. Others, however, will choose to stay or will be drawn into these unique environments...

ANNA FRIED

- OTTO SCHMIDT b. 1855, Berlin

VALENTINA ROSSI

- KARL SCHMIDT b. 1890, Berlin

MOLLY MCGUINNESS

- KARL SCHMIDT III b. 1926, Brooklyn, NY

JOAN WILSON - TED SCHMIDT SR. b. 1956, North Plainfield, NJ ZAHIA ELBAZ - TED SCHMIDT JR. b. 1993, North Plainfield, NJ DIANA SCHMIDT b. 2030, Detroit, MI

TED SCHMIDT TRANSPLANT MILLENNIALS YOUNG TRANSPLANTS

COLLEGE-EDUCATED MILLENNIALS

+ 78% 57% % CHANGE IN POPULATION AGES 18-34, 2010-2015

% OF ARRIVALS 18-44 Y/O

DOWNTOWN + CORKTOWN HIGH OCCUPANCY

COLLEGE EDUCATED

HIGHER EARNING $34,305

% OCCUPIED BUILDINGS CORKTOWN + DOWNTOWN

9%

% BACHELOR’S DEGREE HOLDERS

DETROIT

CORKTOWN

80%

$25,980

DETROIT

CORKTOWN

24%

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME

"As someone who lives and work downtown, these transformations serve my neighborhood and community. I view our projects beyond a typical work perspective but also as a personal one since this work impacts my home. I believe this sentiment works with many within my generation."

—

Eric Henry, 26, architect

"Now in Detroit, there is such opportunity to have an impact, be a part of something, or maybe one day establish something on my own. So here I am."

—

Justin Fenwick, 29, project manager

3. MEET TED Ted Schmidt is a millennial transplant to Detroit, drawn there from Brooklyn by the low cost of living and growing white collar job opportunities.

Ted represents a growing sector of the Detroit populace.

57% of new Detroiters are between the ages of 18 and 44, and the number of collegeeducated millennials (18-34 year olds) in Detroit grew 78% between 2010 and 2015.

Ted lives in Corktown, a historic and trendy downtown neighborhood with a lively bar and restaurant scene.

Vacancy levels in Corktown and downtown are low, with 80% of buildings occupied in both areas. 24% of Corktown residents hold a bachelor’s degree, compared with the city-wide 9%.

Household incomes are also higher.

Young newcomers bring spending power to the city, but their influence is often confined to already healthy downtown areas, where much of the capital investment overall is centered.

We follow Ted as he lays down roots in Detroit and explore how the integration of ecological zones and continued efforts to attract and retain vibrant new Detroiters influence his life in the city.

4. MEET ANGELA

ANGELA HARRIS b. 1983, Detroit, MI MICHAEL HARRIS b. 2015, Detroit, MI CLEMENTINE HARRIS b. 2017, Detroit, MI

ANGELA HARRIS MID-RING DETROITERS EMPLOYMENT

TRANSPORTATION

61%

26%

39%

OF DETROIT HOUSEHOLDS DON’T HAVE A CAR

% OF EMPLOYED DETROITERS

GRAND-MEYER OCCUPANCY

HOUSEHOLDS

RACE

% RACE FOR NEIGHBORHOOD AND SURROUNDING AREAS

16% COUPLE

40%

NON-FAMILY

WHITE

% OCCUPIED BUILDINGS NOT INCLUDING VACANT LOTS THAT HAVE BEEN CLEARED

3% OTHER

2%

68%

40%

FEMALE ONLY

95%

BLACK

Living within the areas zoned for ecological use, Angela and her family must make significant changes to their lifestyle to remain in place.

We follow them as their lives change with the forest growing around them.

FRED WILLIAMS - GLORIA HARRIS b. 1960, Sugarloaf, MI

WORK INSIDE CITY

Although her neighborhood has a high level of vacant homes and empty plots of land, it’s home for Angela, her mother Gloria and her two young children, Michael and Clementine.

Living in this area is not easy, but Angela does not want to move.

Economic barriers to leaving exist, but ultimately Angela and her family stay because they choose to. It is their home.

BARBARA LEWIS - HERALD HARRIS b. 1933, Sugarloaf, MI

WORK OUTSIDE CITY

Angela Harris is a single mother living in a multigenerational household in the middle ring of western Detroit. Like most employed Detroiters, Angela commutes out of the city for work, and like over a quarter of Detroiters, she does not have access to a car. She must ride a bus for over an hour to reach her minimum wage job in the suburbs outside Detroit.

DORTHY MAYFIELD - WILLIE HARRIS b. 1909, Jackson, MI

% FAMILY STRUCTURE OF HOUSEHOLDS IN NEIGHBORHOOD

“The reporter came in and I said, ‘I want you to print something and I want you to print it just the way I say it: I live here because I chose to be in Detroit. I am not stuck. I could be anywhere I want.’”

- Detroit Resident “I think I would use residential vacant land for communal purposes. Have bonfires, rent swim-mobiles in the summer, market area, meeting space, picnics, sack races and of course, farming.”

- Eva, Town Hall Meeting

ESTER BURNS

- ARVID THOMPSON b. 1901, Biloxi, MS

MABEL STERLING - NICHOLAS THOMPSON b. 1918, Louisville, KY MARY LOU BROWN

- EZEKIEL THOMPSON b. 1937, Detroit, MI

DEBORAH ZIMMERMAN

- CHARLES THOMPSON b. 1963, Detroit, MI

OMAR CHOUDRY - ANDRE THOMPSON b. 1999, Detroit, MI

5. MEET ANDRE Andre Thompson is a Detroit native and entrepreneur with roots in the city going back 3 generations. He lives in a healthy outlying neighborhood where 85% of buildings are occupied, the majority of residents have access to a vehicle, but food security remains an issue.

ANDRE THOMPSON

Like 80% of the workforce in Detroit, Andre is African American.

He hopes to combine his desire to rehabilitate his family’s physical heritage, his entrepreneurial drive and opportunities generated by the new urban agricultural zoning to be a force for good and growth in Detroit.

UPWARDLY MOBILE LOCAL MAKE-UP OF POTENTIAL WORKFORCE

AFRICAN AMERICAN OWNED BUSINESS

$50K AVERAGE REVENUE

1/6 OF THE CITIES AVERAGE

8 OUT OF 10 ARE AFRICAN AMERICAN

HEALTHY OUTER NEIGHBORHOODS TRANSPORTATION

HIGH OCCUPANCY

FOOD INSECURITY

% OCCUPIED BUILDINGS LOW VACANCY NEIGHBORHOODS

% WITH ACCESS TO A PRIVATE VEHICLE

22.7%

NATIONAL

21% NO ACCESS

85%

DETROIT

YES

79%

16.6%

% OF AVERAGE POPULATION WITH FOOD INSECURITY

"More and more people are seeing Detroit as having arrived at a place where change is going to happen," he says. "I'm hopeful that over the next five to 10 years, we'll really strengthen Detroit's economy."

Mike Score, Entrepreneur

“Every advantage I received in my life came out of the city of Detroit.”

Elliot Hall, Palmer Woods Resident

We follow Andre as he forges a path for the next generation of makers in Detroit and works to improve the health of the land and people of his city.

1916

6. THE GROWTH OF A CITY This animation charts the growth of Detroit from the 17th century French fort to its current expansive footprint. The centrality of the auto industry to the city’s economy is evident in the urban fabric. Single family homes, wide highways and low rise, car-based sprawl made Detroit particularly vulnerable to the changes to come. The full footprints of Manhattan, San Francisco and Boston could fit within Detroit’s city limits at once, without overlapping and with room to spare.

POPULATION 1790-2010 IN MILLIONS

4

BERLIN 3

BROOKLYN 2

1

DETROIT

2010

1990

1970

1950

1930

1910

1890

1870

1850

1830

1810

0 1790

Otto, Anna and Karl Schmidt

Karl Schmidt & Valentina Rossi, Coney Island NY, 1900

Coney Island locations Detroit MI, 2017

7-8 TED 1800 The Schmidt family immigrated to the United States from Germany at the end of the 19th century, settling like many other immigrants to the east coast, in Brooklyn, NY. Once settled, the Schmidt family spent summer nights sampling the attractions of Coney Island, including Feltman’s, founded by a German immigrant who helped to make hot dogs and Coney Island synonymous. Years later, in Detroit, the coney island hot dog would merge with local Greek and Macedonian immigrant cultures to give rise to a new local tradition of the Coney Island restaurant.

FUNERAL IN WEST AFRICA

MEETING IN A HUSH HARBOUR IN THE SOUTHERN US

PRAYER MEETING IN THE WOODS AT NIGHT

GULLAH PRAISE HOUSE IN SOUTH CAROLINA

BAPTISM IN A MORAVIAN CONGREGATION

SLAVE PREACHING ON A COTTON PLANTATION,

9-10 ANGELA 1800 Many African Americans can trace their ancestry to Africans brought to the United States against their will and enslaved for generations. These slaves came from many African cultures which blended with each other and the European influences they encountered in the Americas to create the unique, blended cultural fabric of music, religion, food and language which continues to inform American society.

11-13 ANDRE 1800 Andre is descended from both Southern agricultural slaves and Northern freedman who worked in industrial production.

Both sides of the family were drawn to Detroit both for job opportunities and the hope of a more equitable existence.

14. PORTRAIT OF A CITY This film, produced by the Ford Motor Company to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Detroit, presents an achingly optimistic image of the city. The narrator describes a bustling city in stark contrast to the city at its founding, when “there were no steel mills, no docks and factories, only a silent wilderness and the river flowing between the lakes�. Street scenes, historical anecdotes and attractions are noticeably devoid of people of color who by this time made up a sizable portion of the citizenry.

1951 (revised 1961), accessible @ https://archive.org/details/PortraitOfACityDetroit

11.7 MILLION US TROOPS DEPLOYED OVERSEAS

Karl Schmidt III & Molly McGuinness New York Penn Station, 1943

Tank Assembly Factory, Detroit c. 1942

Molly, Karl, Susie & Teddy Schmidt North Plainfield NJ, 1958

15-18 TED 1900-50 World War II brought part of the Schmidt family back to Germany as millions of young men from the United States were deployed to Europe, North Africa and the Pacific.

Meanwhile, the war machine went in to overdrive at home. Upon his return to the United States, Karl Schmidt and his new wife Molly set up their family home in the suburbs of New Jersey, like millions of other families. Detroit’s war machine was converted back to its original purpose and reinvigorated by the rise of suburban commutership. Ad campaigns from Detroit-based car companies encouraged multiple car ownership, and high sales drove Detroit’s output and population to its peak.

BETWEEN 1940 AND 1945, THE FEMALE PERCENTAGE OF THE U.S. WORKFORCE INCREASED FROM 27% TO NEARLY 37%

2,000,000

1:10 DETROITERS ARE WORKING IN THE AUTO INDUSTRY

THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY WAS FOUNDED IN 1903

GM’S DETROIT ASSEMBLY FACTORY BUILT IN 1910

DETROIT IS AMERICA’S 4TH LARGEST CITY

THE CHRYSLER COMPANY WAS FOUNDED IN 1925

200,000 DETROIT POPULATION 1900-1950

DIEGO RIVERIA, THE ASSEMBLY OF AN AUTOMOBILE

19-21 ANGELA 1900-50 In the early 1900s, the burgeoning automotive industry made its home in Detroit, beginning with the Ford Motor Company and followed by several others. As this industry grew, so too did Detroit’s population, benefiting from and promoting the Great Migration of workers from the southern United States to the industrial cities of the North. When automotive industrial infrastructure was re-purposed during World War II, women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers to make up for the loss of men to military service.

22-25 ANDRE 1900-50 Although hopeful about opportunities and a better life in Detroit, Andre’s family soon found discriminatory housing and employment policies were common. Nonetheless, the city came together with the rest of the country during World War II to help supply the war eort, both in munitions and equipment and canned rations.

26. THE SHOCKWAVE This animations demonstrates the point-centered dynamics of Detroit’s population loss, and the history of current patterns of settlement.

The outlying neighborhoods remain relatively strong, the middle band empties out and the downtown core is more recently revitalized.

Black White Hispanic Asian

Plainfield NJ, July 1967

4,000,000+

11%

people have fled Syria since fighting began in 2011

of Middle East-North Africa region immigrants to the US between 2009-13 settled in Michigan

Middle East-North African immigrants make up

2,029

Syrian refugees have been resettled in Michigan, second only to California. (as of Feb 2017)

1.9%

of the Detroit-WarrenDearborn Metro area population

27-29 TED 1950-2000 Nationwide social change hit urban centers hard in the 1960s and 70s. Racial tensions, spurred by widespread discrimination and inequality boiled over in riots in 1967 both in Detroit and New Jersey. Urban tensions and a weak economy spurred white flight from cities all over the United States. As one wave of the population passed, another began. In the later part of the 19th century, Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) immigration to the US increased, particularly to Michigan’s Detroit-Dearborn Metro area. 11% of all MENA immigrants to the US between 2000-13 settled in this area, making up close to 2% of the population. As of February 2017, Michigan had accepted 2,029 refugees from the Syrian conflict.

1958 3.5 MILLION SQ.FT. ABANDONED 40,000 JOBS LOST

PACKARD AUTOMOTIVE PLANT

111,000 DETROITERS WORK OUTSIDE OF THE CITY 57% GREATER THAN THE 70,700 DETROITERS WHO WORK WITHIN THE CITY

POPULATION CHANGE IN REGION 0 DECREASING POPULATION

INCREASING POPULATION

30-32 ANGELA 1950-2000 As Detroit’s population dwindled, industry also moved to the suburbs, leaving behind the skeletal remains of a now dormant industrial machine and a workforce with few opportunities in their neighborhoods.

33-35 ANDRE 1950-2000 Growing up in the African American neighborhoods of Detroit, Andre’s parents remembered some Mo-Town legends before they were stars. These communities were particularly targeted for displacement when highway construction began, which only deepened lines of segregation which ran through the city. In response to this and many other injustices, civil rights leaders in Detroit and elsewhere fought peacefully for equal treatment. These nonviolent protests were often overshadowed by episodes of violence and rioting.

36. DETROIT FUTURE CITY With the city lacking a properly staed planning department, non-profit group Detroit Future City (DFC) called on researchers, urban planners, activists and Detroiters to produce a strategic framework for the next 50 years of the city. In response to high levels of vacancy, an eroded tax base, and the inability of the city to provide services to its full footprint, the DFC recommended the roll-out of ecological zones, innovative (essentially forests) and productive (agricultural land) in areas of highest vacancy.

Major investment projects in Detroit 2005-2015

4 MIN. DRIVE 8 MIN. BIKE RIDE 28 MIN. WALK

11 MIN. DRIVE 24 MIN. BIKE RIDE 86 MIN. WALK

PROPOSED ECOLOGICAL ZONE

37-39 TED 2000-2020 East coast ad campaigns targeted young professionals and artists in places like Brooklyn, hoping to lure a reinvigorating work- and spending force to Detroit.

Ted Schmidt, disenchanted with the high cost of living and intrigued by the novelty of a move, set o for a new life in Detroit. He landed in the downtown core, where nearly all major investment is also targeted. The DFC ecological zone plan has to the potential to separate this pocket of central investment and high-earning, high-income residents from the rest of the city and population.

HERE’S WHAT IS HAPPENING IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD! INNOVATION ECOLOGICAL ZONES

LANDSCAPES OF INNOVATION FORESTS, MEADOWS - DEVELOPE GRADUALLY OVER TIME LOW COST AND LOW MAINTENANCE SUPPORT VARIETY OF PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE INCLUDE BLUE INFRASTRUCTURE - STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

INNOVATIVE PRODUCTIVE ZONES

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR GRAND-MEYER? - CITY UTILITIES WILL CONTINUE WITH NORMAL SERVICE UNTIL MAY 31, 2027 - RELOCATION COMPENSATION WILL BE PROVIDED TO ALL GRAND-MEYER RESIDENTS THROUGH THE END OF 2025 - COMMUNITY MEETINGS WILL BE HELD ON THE THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH TO DEVELIER UP TO DATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRANSITION PROCESS

LANDSCAPES OF INNOVATION VACANT LAND PUT TO PRODUCTIVE USE RESHAPING PUBLIC PERCEPTION FOOD GROWTH, PRODUCTIVE FORESTS, SOIL REMEDIATION RESEARCH PLOTS, URBAN FARMS, GREENHOUSES WORKING + PRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT TYPES

PLEASE contact Suzanne at 313-894-6839 with any questions or concerns about your neighborhood!

Let’s all work together towards a greener Detroit!

40-42 ANGELA 2000-2020 Although the Detroit Future City plan incorporated feedback from the community, some of the many people still living in areas earmarked for ecological zoning pushed back against the plan. In response, the government’s actual policy incorporated a phased 50 year roll out, early buy-out options for those who chose to leave the area and training and resources for those who chose to stay and evolve with the landscape around them.

43-46 ANDRE 2000-2020 Grassroots groups like Blight Busters, acting the in face of municipal inaction, set about demolishing vacant homes and tending unoccupied land. Andre’s father volunteers with the group on his days off from the post office, instilling the spirit of civic action in his son.

47. IMPORTED FROM DETROIT This commercial, produced by Chrysler in 2011 to promote its Chrysler 200, coopts the ‘post-fall’ image of Detroit, capitalizing on its underdog persona and pushing back against outside mis-characterizations to relaunch the company’s own flagging image. The script balances notions of “a city that’s been to hell and back” and a celebration of “hard work and conviction and the know-how that runs generations deep” in Detroiters. The ad features historic downtown architecture, Detroit native rapper Eminem and a local African American gospel choir. accessible @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc (Chrysler)

8102:1 810$,17$,1('

'250$17 '($'

92,' 23325781,7<

)/(;,%,/,7< )5(('20

38/6( /,)(

STRENGTHEN THE VASCULAR SYSTEM

ADVERTISE ACTION

PRUNE THE GRID

CODIFY DECOMMISSIONABILITY

48. PROJECT DIAGRAMS The cycle of dormancy and activity required for true resiliency can be executed at every scale, from a building stripped to a dormant frame to a lot demarcated for ecological use and grid redrawn to respond to need. All of these branch oï¬&#x20AC; of a consolidated vascular core based on existing radial throughways like Grand River.

MICHIGAN AVENUE STRIP

GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

CORKTOWN ROW HOUSE

WEST RIVERFRONT PARK

49. DOWNTOWN + CORKTOWN Tedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s orbit within Detroit is confined to the downtown and Corktown neighborhoods.

50. THE HIPSTER LIFE Single and with ample disposable income, Ted and his friends frequent the lively bars and restaurants of Corktown.

51. AT HOME WITH ANGELA While Angela is at work, her mother Gloria provides childcare for her two grandchildren Michael and Clementine.

52. GRAND MEYER In Angelaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neighborhood, Grand Meyer, only 68% of buildings are occupied, and many lots have been cleared of abandoned houses.

Community spirit is still strong, however, and Gloria is heavily involved in their local church.

53. THE VIEW FROM RIVERDALE Andre lives in Riverdale, a leafy outer neighborhood bordered by blight-heavy Brightmoor. Like many in his neighborhood, Andre is fiercely proud of his city and his familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history there. Thought he wants to stay, Andre struggles to find work with only a high school education.

54. TENDING THE ROOTS Andre begins renovating his grandfatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vacant home in Brightmoor and converts an adjacent vacant lot into a greenhouse. Though of little market value, the house is an important piece of family heritage and the first asset the family owned.

55. TRACKING TIME Early in our research, we were struck by the work of photographer Camilo Jose Vergara, particularly this series of photos of the Former Ransom Gillis Mansion. In his own words, Vergara feels “that a people’s past, including their accomplishments, aspirations and failures, are reflected less in the faces of those who live in these neighborhoods than in the material, built environment in which they move and modify over time”. His series follows the mansion from an initial ruinous state where it is overgrown and decaying to its rediscovery and rebirth. accessible @ http://www.camilojosevergara.com/Detroit/Former-Ransom-Gillis-Mansion

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Architecture is exposed to life. If its body is sensitive enough, it can assume a quality that bears witness to past life.â&#x20AC;?

-Peter Zumthor

56. TED, ZAHIA AND THE FOREST Ted meets Zahia Elbaz, a former Syrian refugee, at a coï¬&#x20AC;ee shop downtown. Together, they explore the growing forest zones just outside the downtown zone.

HV DQG 0LJUDWLRQ 350

8QLWHG 6WDWHV %XUHDX RI 3RSXODWLRQ 5HIXJH IULFD 56& 0(1$

RUWK $ DVW 1 GGOH ( 5HVHWWOHPHQW 6XSSRUW &HQWHU 0L YHUVLW\ 6W 6XKHLO 0DMGRXEHK 6WUHHW -RUGDQ 8QL $PPDQ -RUGDQ

notice of ineligibility 'HDU 0LVV (OED] :H UHJUHW WR LQIRUP \RX WKDW \RX KDYH EHHQ IRXQG LQHOLJLEOH IRU D QRQ LPPLJUDQW YLVD EDVHG RQ VHFWLRQ D

RI WKH 8 6 ,PPLJUDWLRQ DQG 1DWLRQDOLW\ $FW ,1$ WKH JXLGHOLQHV RI WKH 8 6 5HIXJHH $GPLVVLRQV 3URJUDP 865$3

DQG RU WKH ([HFXWLYH 2UGHU 3URWHFWLQJ 7KH 1DWLRQ IURP )RUHLJQ 7HUURULVW (QWU\ ,QWR WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV (2 8QGHU (2 6HFWLRQ H Y 6\ULDQ QDWLRQDOV DUH GHHPHG WR ³FRQWLQXH WR SUHVHQW KHLJKWHQHG ULVN WR WKH VHFXULW\ RI WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV´ <RX KDYH DOVR EHHQ GHHPHG LQHOLJLEOH IRU D VSHFLDO FLUFXPVWDQFH ZDLYHU DV GHWDLOHG LQ (2 6HFWLRQ F

7RGD\¶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

6LQFHUHO\

9LFWRULD +D]RX &RQVXODU 2IILFHU

$OLFH * :HOOV 86 $PEDVVDGRU WR -RUGDQ

57. DENIAL In a glimpse into an alternate future, Zahia is denied entry to the United States...

58. DEPARTURE ...Not having laid down roots, Ted is drawn back to the East Coast.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A garden city is a town designed for healthy living and industry; of a size that makes possible a full measure of social life, but not larger; surrounded by a rural belt: the whole of the land being in public ownership or held in trust for the community.â&#x20AC;?

-Garden Cities and Towns Planning Association, 1919

59. GRAND MEYER MODELED As vacancy in the neighborhood increases, Angela begins to take on custodianship of a larger plot of land and a number of abandoned buildings. Many of these buildings will play a role in Angela’s strategy for life in the ecological zone.

Model scale: 1/16” = 1’-0”

60. CHANGING GEARS Like many Detroiters Andre cycles for recreation and to commute. Through a local cycling club, he meets his partner Omar.

61. BUILDING FROM STRENGTH As part of their ongoing commitment to citizen activism, Andre and Omar join Blight Busters, helping the group transition from a policy of total clearance to one of decommissioning. He argues this strategy can help lower barriers to entry for new businesses and home-buyers.

62. GOING TO MARKET Andreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operation increases in scale, absorbing adjacent lots and tapping into local distribution networks, growersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; coops and city markets.

“...in the context of a program of selective deflation of urban pressure, even of a partial dismantling of malfunctioning parts of the present city, Berlin’s human shrinkage offers a clear and unique opportunity to identify and ‘weed out’ those parts of the city that are now substandard, for architectural or other reasons, and to intensify and even complete the fragments that would be preserved.”

-Oswald Mathias Ungers and Rem Koolhaas, Berlin: A Green Archipelago

63. FOREST FIRE The forest fire is a poignant analogy for the Detroit experience. As Chrysler put it, “it’s the hottest fires that make the hardest steel”. This is not a tabula rasa approach, but an acknowledgment of our participation in the natural cycles of destruction and reconstruction, a triage approach differentiating between the essential and the sacrificial, and a firm belief that to be dormant is not to be dead.

64. LIFECYCLE Zahia, Ted and their daughter Diana move into a formerly dormant frame house in Woodbridge.

4301 AVERY STREET

WESTSIDE FOREST DISTRICT BOUNDARY 2030

65. A NEIGHBORHOOD REDRAWN The wider neighborhood begins to refill with young families drawn from downtown by the schools and adjacency to the forest district.

66. THE WALDSCHULE Working from the German model, Waldschule (or forest school) is adopted in several districts in Detroit.

Here students learn to appreciate the new relationship between the city and nature.

67. GRAND MEYER FOREST STATION As part of her â&#x20AC;&#x153;Adapt in Placeâ&#x20AC;? training, Angela has become a park ranger for the now expansive city forest. She and Gloria also use their private land to farm Douglas Fir trees for sale at Christmas. This new way of life has taught Angela to appreciate the natural systems around her and her impact on them.

WELCOME TO GRAND-MEYER FOREST

ANGELA’S CHRISTMAS TREES GROWN IN DETROIT!

68. ANGELA’S CHRISTMAS TREES - GROWN IN DETROIT! As Angela’s agroforestry endeavor takes off, Gloria, once tentative about their life in the new neighborhood, now organizes church tours of the forest.

69. THE BLIGHT

In one possible future, a beetle blight devastates Detroit’s young agroforestry industry and dashes the hopes of many who hoped to stay in the city’s eco neighborhoods.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;..the only way we can, as humans, integrate ourselves into a life-sustaining relationship with nature, is for both of us, males as much as females, to see ourselves as equally rooted in the cycles of life and death, and equally responsible for creating ways of living sustainably together in that relationshipâ&#x20AC;?

-Rosemary Radford Ruether, Gaia and God

70. HARNESSING THE Y AXIS Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agricultural future must respond to the unique context, utilizing vertical farming and hydroponic technologies. Andre too must adapt to achieve his goals. In doing so, he fulfills a lifelong dream, earning his bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in agricultural science and business.

71. FENKEL AVENUE New industrial agricultural activity secondary commercial corridors.

helps

reactivate

existing

primary

and

“DETROIT IS MAGICAL IT’S A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING. IT’S CONTEMPORARY IT’S VINTAGE. IT’S ARTSY. IT’S ROCK & ROLL. IT’S SOMETIMES PRETTY, SOMETIMES GRITTY. IT’S MUSICAL. IT’S UPLIFTING. IT’S MY CITY, AND I LOVE IT.”

-Shinola advertisement, 2014

72. DAY DRIVE This footage, taken during our research trip to Detroit, shows the length and variety of experience along the 45 minute drive on Grand River.

73. THE FOREST DISTRICT New resilient frame townhouses, artisan craft shops and cafes line the forest edge, interspersed with restored historic homes.

74. TOWNHOUSE ON THE PARK Empty nesters Ted and Zahia downsize to a luxury townhouse on the now fashionable forest edge.

75. INTO THE WOODS

Zahia learns to forage for berries, mushrooms and bark from local forest guide Gloria

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nature is never finishedâ&#x20AC;?

-Robert Smithson

76. NEW SPIRITUALITY After years of holding prayer group in the forest, Gloria establishes her own congregation, advocating a blend of Christian values and nature worship.

77. DORMANT DETROIT The decommissionability of buildings, now required by local code, means that the entire city could go dormant if necessary. Slowly overgrown, dark but for a few sentinel streetlights, the sleeping city waits, ready for a future when it will be stirred, called upon again by humanity. Shaking oďŹ&#x20AC; the vines of dormancy, stretching skin over its chilled bones, Detroit wakes again.

78. FARMSCRAPERS Vertical farming structures transform the landscape of high vacancy neighborhoods.

Model Scale: 1/64” = 1’-0”

79. THE WEST END BY NIGHT At their full maturity, the ecological zones, as seen from above in the bottom right, demonstrate the consolidation of activity and the maintenance of connection through the artery of Grand River, when compared to the city at its peak (top left) and the condition at year 0 (top right).

80. AGE IN PLACE A 2004 development, decommissioned in the 2020s, is gradually transitioned to active use as a senior village to cater to the aging millennial population.

Model scale: 1/64”=1’-0”

THE

SENIOR SENTINEL

BELLE ISLE BUS TRIP

81. THE VIEW Ted & Zahia retire to a re-framed senior development just inside the forest edge.

82. A RETREAT WITHIN The Grand River streetcar ferries downtown residents in need of a walk in the woods to the Forest Districts of the west side. The arterial transit is also essential for suburbanites visiting the Western Market, shopping districts or downtown and for inner-city commuting.

83. NEXT GEN FORESTRY Following Angelaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passing, her son Michael takes on the forest station, building a new home and transitioning the Douglas Fir farm to a marijuana grow to maximize profitability.

84. RESTORATION TOWER This formerly vacant apartment building, out of scale and underutilized, is reborn as an agricultural factory producing mushrooms for sale locally.

Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes

City motto of Detroit, written after the fire of 1805 which destroyed nearly the entire settlement.

85. RURBANITY The new skyline of the city’s outskirts highlights the rise of vertical farming, a blend of Detroit’s mass production past and its smart production future.

86. WESTERN MARKET The new Western Market, a favorite of the whole west side, brings locally grown goods from locally owned businesses to neighborhoods which once struggled to obtain fresh food.

Just like Malcolm Bingay more than 50 years ago, we don’t know what the next 50 years will bring, but we agree with his one confident prediction: “it will be dynamic”. The future is uncertain for all of us, but as we have all learned time and again as students, there is power in recognition of uncertainty. Learning, growth and design all begin with not knowing. If resilience is the ability to respond to the challenges of the future, it must also be the ability to react to the unknown, to be ready for all possibilities - to growth and contraction, to occupancy and vacancy. The city must be able to pulse.

For us, this pulse requires a physical and metaphorical re-framing at every scale. We must begin to widen the frame of time and space, recognizing Detroit’s history for its glories and shames and to place it within the world and the broader view of history. Abandoned structures can be symbols of historic pride, not shame. New densities can be idyllic instead of depressing. A new balance with the natural world can be picturesque instead of blighted. The city cannot be precious or hold grudges, but trust the strength of its bones, shoring up its vital vascular pathways, pruning its street grid, and moving with visible confidence to decommission land and structures until they are needed for active use.

The history of places like Berlin and Rome show us that cities grow and shrink but seldom die out altogether. The essential character of Detroit and its citizenry is production, the knowledge and skill to see a need and fill it, or as it is commonly known, “know how”. By embracing uncertainty, and producing solutions which imbue the city with the elasticity to react to whatever may come, Detroiters can harness their “know how” to prepare for what we know not.