
Detroit’s urban core lost significant population between 1940 and 1950. The City Plan Commission’s report in 1954 projected further loss through 1980. With hindsight at 20/20, it’s seems unimaginable that Mayor Cobo would push forward on efforts to clear more vacant land (Black Bottom) in the name of redevelopment when the expectation was to lose population in the urban core anyway or perhaps it was foreshadowing “urban renewal” plans?