10 minute read
The Plan for MotorCities
The Plan will pull together the diverse physical, cultural, and human resources that are part of MotorCities-ANHA through education, revitalization and tourism so that the scattered threads of its story can be woven together into a rich regional tapestry which will bring positive benefits and help residents and visitors understand why our region is so important.
Advertisement
Near right: The Motor City exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum shows how the industry influenced the development of communities in Detroit.
Center: The Michigan Historical Center in Lansing presents many aspects of the industry’s influence on the state and its communtites.
Far right: The Phoenix Mill, one of Ford’s Village Industries along Hines Drive, is a reuse opportunity that could take advantage of its location, a potential Heritage Route, and the adjacent Middle branch of the Rouge River, which could support small boat activity. Inspired by its heritage of an entirely female labor force and the origins of the “coffee break”, Wayne County and the local community have initiated a project to convert the mill to a women’s labor history museum and coffee house.
Key concepts of the Plan • Create regional linkages, inter-connecting widely scattered sites that are part of a common regional history. These linkages will include physical connections, such as Heritage Routes, greenways, and water tours, as well as programmatic linkages that will encourage cooperation among many communities and institutions. • Tell the MotorCities story by building on existing interpretive resources, making the history of the region more accessible and apparent to residents and visitors and allowing residents to partic
ANHA
ipate in documenting their personal histories. The many museums throughout the region offer a priceless and unsurpassed cross-section of our region, its industry, and story; MotorCities will encourage coordination of these tremendous insti- tutions and connections between museum experi- ences and real resources associated with the indus- try in the region's communities. Strengthen regional tourism to enhance existing attractions and increase beneficial economic impact. New visitor experiences and a coherent MotorCities inspired legions of architects, artists, authors and designers in their work.
ICON team
regional story will attract the attention of residents within the region and will draw visitors to new experiences that will help them understand how cars are made and how the automobile industry has changed the region and their worlds. Revitalize and interpret the cultural landscape of the region, encouraging revitalization of commu- nities and districts associated with the MotorCities story and enhancing the quality of life in Michigan. MotorCities can draw attention to important resources and encourage localities to
What will the National Heritage Area mean to us? It will build pride in our shared heritage: who we were, who we are, who we hope to become.
Former GM Headquarters, Detroit. This National Historic Landmark is one of architect Albert Kahn’s revolutionary designs for automobile industry clients. Other notable examples are the nearby Fisher building, the Ford Rouge Plant, and the Packard Proving Ground in Macomb County. [DHM]
take action to preserve and reuse important aspects of their history.
Create a mechanism and forum that can be a catalyst for regional action to advocate using the shared automotive heritage of the region as a unifying force for growth, development, and improved quality of life. Partnership is a key tenet of our organization. The region is large and the Partnership realizes that it cannot effect broad change unilaterally. The Partnership is committed to serve a catalyst role in promoting automobile heritage and encouraging others -- industry representatives, citizens, communities, public jurisdictions, institutions, property owners and businesses -- to recognize resources and act in concert to use the region's heritage in positive and productive ways. The key mission goals of the ANHA Partnership include education, revitalization, and tourism. These goals are strongly reflected in the recommendations of the draft GMP/EA. The collaborative intent and commitment of the Partnership is also reflected in the inclusive approach the organization used during the GMP/EA process as well as its own internal organization.
Elements of the Plan To tell the MotorCities-ANHA story and revitalize its resources, Resource Management Zones with differing types and densities of automotive and labor heritage resources are defined as a key aspect of the Plan. Three types of zones are defined; Partnership
Near Right: The GM Technical Center in Warren, Macomb County, has become the largest automotive campus in the world and was recently named to the National Register. GM is investing $1 billion as part of their regional reorganization efforts.
Center: Nankin Mills is a Hub Gateway that includes exhibits on the scope of Ford’s village industries.
Far Right: Plant tours are still very high on the list of activities of interest for visitors to the region. The Plan recommends expanding them.
programs and activities will be most intense in those
DHM
zones where automobile resources are most highly concentrated. The types of resource management zones within the proposed MotorCities-ANHA boundary include the following: • The Heritage Region • Stewardship Communities • Hub Districts The key characteristics of each zone are summarized in Table 1. Page 17 shows the overall Plan for MotorCities. The Heritage Region defines the overall boundary of the Heritage Area, a region whose residents and culture are highly identified with the past, present, and future of the automobile industry. The Plan defines criteria for designation of Stewardship Communities and tentatively designates these zones, with the possibility left open that other areas may meet these criteria for such designation over time. Stewardship Communities are defined in the broadest possible sense of the word "community." They may be comprised of one or more jurisdictions, governmental units, self-selected alliances of municipalities, institu
ANHA
tions, non-profit organizations, resource owners, corporations, and special interest or volunteer groups. Hub Districts are zones within the Stewardship Communities where resources, existing interpretive venues, and visitor services are most densely concentrated. Affiliates are areas beyond the Heritage Region boundary that share aspects of automobile heritage and may be identified from time to time by the ANHA Partnership for collaborative efforts.
The Plan has three resource management zones with differing types and densities of automotive and labor heritage resources. The zones are defined with the concept that ANHA Partnership programs and activities will be most intense where automobile resources are most highly concentrated. The three resource management zones are:
The Heritage Region is the entirety of the MotorCities area.
Stewardship Communities are defined areas and initiatives within the Heritage Region.
Hub Districts are defined areas within Stewardship Communities.
Legend
ICON team
Table 1: Overview of ANHA Partnership Role in Resource Management Zones
Resource Management Zone Primary mission of ANHA Partnership in each Resource Management Zone ANHA Partnership Role
Heritage Region Education
Stewardship Communities Revitalization
The ANHA Partnership will support local initiatives to capture personal histories and stories that support interpretation of MotorCities themes and will develop educational programs and materials that communicate and make widely known the heritage of the region and its people.
The ANHA Partnership will assist Stewardship Communities as they identify and preserve auto heritage resources.
Hub Districts
Affiliates Visitor Experience
Collaboration
The ANHA Partnership will cooperate with its partners to enhance and improve the visitor experience in Hub Districts and to encourage appropriate resource preservation, development and use to accomplish this goal. The ANHA Partnership will provide opportunities to Affiliates, areas outside the Heritage Region boundary, to participate in joint marketing that will have mutual benefit.
Each of the nine hubs consists of an area where automobile heritage resources are clustered and an existing interpretive venue can serve as a "Gateway" for visitors. Hub tour maps and supporting interpretive exhibits in each of the nine Gateway institutions will provide an orientation to the immediate area as well as to all of MotorCities-ANHA.
Right: The Lansing Hub includes many attractions associated with the early work of Ransom E. Olds and the evolution and growth of General Motors and the Oldsmobile brand. The Hub Gateway, the Michigan Historical Center, has diverse exhibits that explain the relationship of the automobile industry to the physical growth and cultural life of the MotorCites-ANHA region.
Below: Hub revitalization programs could attract new uses to the historic former Cadillac sales building, a prominent part of Detroit’s “Auto Row” in the Lower Woodward Hub.
Hub Gateway Venues have been designated at key interpretive institutions in each Hub District to serve as "front doors" to the Heritage Region. At these locations, visitors will get an overview and an orientation to MotorCities. Each Hub Gateway is an interpretive museum that has significant exhibits and content dealing with automotive heritage. The ANHA Partnership will provide supplementary interpretation and information about the region, its people, its history, and the connections between the geographic elements of MotorCities. Through its
ICON team
interpretive themes, as well as technical and financial assistance, the ANHA Partnership will define and reinforce a thematic overview of the region to expand visitors' understanding of how diverse resources in many communities have contributed to the character of the region. Linkages of many kinds are important elements of the Plan. The ANHA Partnership will collaborate with many entities to facilitate tour connections from Hub Gateway Venues and the resources within Hub Districts and Stewardship Communities, to promote connections within the Heritage Region, and to reinforce and improve Heritage Routes, natural areas, and greenway corridors. Linkages will include boat tours, self-drive automobile routes, walking tours, bikeways, and public transportation.
Heritage Programs will insure that the ANHA Partnership will fulfill its mission goals. Thirty-six programs within the Plan respond to the Partnership's key missions of education, revitalization, and tourism. These programs include a broad range of interventions, in partnership with other public and private entities, to accomplish the recommendations of the GMP/EA. The programs will correspond to the ANHA Partnership's three primary goals:
ANHA
MotorCities-ANHA Programs
The Plan recommends detailed programs, to be pursued by ANHA and its partners, designed to address ANHA’s mission goals.
Education and Interpretation 1 Personal history - UAW program 2 Personal History - “jukebox” or equivalent 3 Heritage ranger program 4 Living History and performance programs 5 Local broadcast media 6 Public art programs 7 Other educational outreach to Stewardship Communities 8 Area-wide Interpretive Prospectus and Historical Context 9 Overview media presentations 10 Maps and guides integrated with communications system 11 Interpretive Wayside Exhibits 12 Key venue improvements 13 Archive and collections strategy Education and interpretation programs - will capture the personal and institutional history within the entirety of the MotorCities region and make their meaning and content accessible to residents and visitors through "face-to-face" individual histories, inventive interpretation, and creative educational initiatives. Revitalization projects and programs - will enhance the visitor experience in key resource clusters in Hub Districts and Stewardship Communities, making best use of automobile heritage resources to achieve community health and vitality.
ANHA
Revitalization - Preservation and Economic Development 14 Identify, document, and assess auto heritage resources 15 Key District Enhancement Strategies 16 Demonstration site resource interventions 17 Engage University partners 18 Create or adapt a Community Development Financial
Institution 19 Annual MotorCities awards 20 Revitalization conference for stewardship communities 21 New business development services 22 Other revitalization grants to Stewardship Communities
Tourism and visitor services - will continue to "brand" MotorCities resources and attractions, will integrate and support initiatives by existing institutions and agencies, and will encourage linkages and services to support the visitor experience. Closely related to these Heritage Programs, potential demonstration projects dealing with key automobile heritage resources have been defined, as well as possible early action items that have been identified as topics of strong interest by regional participants.
MotorCities programs will use our resources for education and interpretation.
Far Left: The Plan for MotorCities calls for developing intergenerational learning and place-based education programs throughout the region.
Center: Learn about car culture at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village’s Automobile in American Life exhibit.
Left: Lansing, site of MIchigan’s State Capitol Building, offers resources that can assist with curriculum development and MotorCities-ANHA programs. ANHA
Tourism and Visitor Services 23 Identity and brand development 24 Regional Awareness Program 25 Marketing 26 Wayfinding and information system 27 Central Venue feasibility and implementation support 28 Web linkages 29 Water linkages - Detroit and Rouge Rivers 30 Visitor Orientation 31 Packages of Visitor Experiences 32 Visitor incentive programs 33 Bicycle, pedestrian, and greenway linkages 34 Heritage Routes 35 Other transportation linkages and services 36 Other tourism programs in Stewardship Communities
