Requiem or resurrection?
Tamsin Stirling reflects on her autumn 2014 study visit to Detroit with CIH South East Branch
FOR SOME PEOPLE, the first thing they think of when the city of Detroit is mentioned is Motown, for others it will be the moniker Motor City and for others, it will be the city that went bankrupt. Detroit is all of these things and many more.
The first thing that really strikes you is the scale of the city – you can fit Boston, San Francisco and Manhattan within its boundaries with room to spare. Urban sprawl – yes, low density – most certainly, absence of green belt – indeed.
Add to the sprawl a huge reduction in population over a number of decades and the city has a major challenge on its hands just providing basic services. This would be the case even if most people were paying their property taxes – fewer than half of property owners actually do so – many are simply unable to. The city has a policy of charging 18 per cent interest on unpaid property taxes and where property taxes have not been paid for three years it forecloses or takes over ownership of the homes. A near total collapse of the local tax base has been a significant factor in the city becoming bankrupt; it is estimated that nearly $710 million is owed in overdue property taxes and penalties. However, the total debt owed by Detroit prior to the recent agreement to exit bankruptcy was $18 billion.
That is just the fiscal side of things. Physical blight is a huge issue for the city – both residential and commercial. The largest derelict building is the Packard Plant. In total, there are around 85,000 buildings and plots affected by blight. All buildings and plots across the city have been mapped, with this information put alongside a range of other datasets through an impressive project called Motor City Mapping, the results of which are now available online.
It is difficult to adequately describe the scale and impact of the blight – burnt out properties, derelict properties, whole areas which used to have a home on every plot, now with one on every 10 or 15. It is even more difficult to imagine living in one of these areas.
Plans, plans
There are a number of plans for the future of Detroit, from the current mayor Mike Duggan’s ‘Every Neighbourhood has a Future’ to ‘Detroit Future City’. The latter is an impressive and comprehensive 50-year vision for future land use focused on how to turn the liability of vacant land into an asset. The plan (or framework as some people call it) has five elements – economic growth, land use, city systems, neighbourhood, land and buildings. It identifies land and building uses for different neighbourhoods and sub-neighbourhoods, including a range of environmental uses, as well as residential, employment, education, transport routes and an open space network. The development of the Detroit Future City plan involved a participatory process that had not been the case for previous plans for the city, but, as yet, it does not have any legal status. A small implementation team is supporting action on pilots in different areas.
The Blight Removal Task Force plan sets out practical recommendations for the way forward, including better co-ordination between agencies, identifying a range of funding opportunities to tackle blight (estimated to cost $850 million) and changing approaches that are not working, such as the policy on property taxes.
Added to these is now the plan associated with the city’s exiting bankruptcy, which reduces the city’s debts by $7 billion. Producing this plan has involved engagement with, and contributions from, a range of private sector donors, foundations and the state of Michigan. Vital to many has been the preservation of the collections in the Detroit Institute of Art.
And there are also plans at neighbourhood and community level. An abiding question throughout the visit was how connected these plans are and whether short-term expediency means developments may well not follow the framework set out by Detroit Future City.
Cause for optimism
There is cause for optimism; on a number of indicators, things are improving in Detroit. Looking at the business side, commercial banks are now investing in the city, companies are locating in the city, construction activity has increased and private investors have taken on large vacant buildings in the downtown area and are to invest in finding new uses for them. There are also many new start-up businesses – Detroit is an attractive prospect for start-ups – commercial rental costs are low and a lot of business support is available.
A reinvigorated Detroit Land Bank Authority is scaling up its work to address blight – getting title on properties, auctioning them at low cost and providing financial support to those moving in to undertake the necessary improvements. This activity is focused on neighbourhoods that can be stabilised and strengthened (rather than those which have gone beyond the ‘tipping point’). Such neighbourhoods have been identified through the mapping process and are marketed as great places to live.
Local development is taking place; a good example is the Woodward Corridor which has involved quality mixed use developments including housing, bringing people back into the city. However, an ever-present issue is the gap between the cost of redevelopment or new development and the rental or sale prices that can be achieved.
Some neighbourhoods are seeking to redefine themselves, either building on an existing identity such as Mexicantown, or finding new uses for land and buildings. Examples are the Heidelberg Project based around the arts and Hantz Farms’ work n east Detroit improving the quality of land and landscape through land management and the planting of hardwood trees and using this as an opportunity for education and tourism.
Questions, questions
I was really struck during the visit by the passion, commitment, energy and engagement of a wide range of individuals and agencies – for profit, profit with purpose (I like this term), not for profit, community, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and foundations. Based on this, Detroit most definitely has a more positive future ahead of it. But then I reflect on the scale of urban decay, the degree of poverty, the way that politics plays out (America has a lot of layers of government) and the massive task ahead of the city authority to get back on an even financial keel, but also to amass the skills and capacity it needs to take its place as a key partner. Not feeling so positive now.
Are there any lessons for Wales, particularly the South Wales Valleys that have also experienced the disappearance of their industrial base (mining as opposed to car manufacture in Detroit)? The context is hugely different but we could certainly do with the amount of passion, commitment and energy from such diverse sectors as we witnessed in Detroit. And I think that there are also lessons from really knowing the scale and detail of the issues being faced by a city/region and from the work and powers of the Detroit Land Bank Authority.
The study visit was fascinating but begged a lot of questions. In good part, this came from my minimal understanding of the detail of things American and a reality check regarding how unfamiliar many of the attitudes and approaches are. My guess is that some areas of the city will be ok and others will find it really difficult to move to the new roles envisioned by Detroit Future City. And I think the same will apply in the future to the people of Detroit – some will be ok and some really won’t.
This article draws on a Regeneration Skills Collective Wales/CREW/WHQ supported Innovation and Engagement Unit lecture given by Tamsin in December 2014.
Want to know more?
Motor City Mapping www.motorcitymapping.org
Detroit Future City detroitfuturecity.com
Blight Removal Task Force report www.timetoendblight.com
Detroit Land Bank Authority www.buildingdetroit.org
Southwest Housing Solutions www.swsol.org/housing
Mexicantown www.mexicantown.com
Heidelberg Project www.heidelberg.org
Hantz Farms www.hantzfarmsdetroit.com