Author Archives: Alex B. Hill

Map: Detroit Storefront Index

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In the new City Report, “The Storefront Index” from City Observatory, the Detroit metro area ranks 51st as one of the least dense city centers with storefronts (businesses within a 3 mile radius of a Downtown).

“One of the best indicators of the vitality of an urban space is the presence of customer-facing retail and service businesses.”

Important to note is that the database utilized by the report found that the Customs List under-reported businesses in Detroit and had to then rely on a secondary sources, USAInfo.

 

Map: Index of Inaccessibility & Border Plants in Hamtramck and Detroit

During last year’s Porous Borders Festival in Hamtramck there were a handful of great examples of engaged mapping projects:

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“Index of Inaccessibility” attempted to re-draw one of the borders of the GM Assembly Plant by walking around it. The intent by the artist-organizers Ludmila Ferrari, Juan Leal, and Félix Zamora was to create a new map of the border that is not constituted by the presence of the GM Assembly Plant.

Maia-Plant-Map

“The Border Plant Mapping Project” set out to document any accessible plants along the Detroit/Hamtramck border and result in a map that anyone can use to find the mapped plants. This project was developed by Maia Asshaq, a writer and performer living in Hamtramck.

 

Event: Open Data DiscoTech

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The Detroit Digital Justice Coalition (through Allied Media Projects) and Detroit Community Technology Project are partnering with Grace in Action to present a Data DiscoTech, April 23rd, 11:00am – 2:00pm at the Grace in Action church (1725 Lawndale St.) . The event is free and open to the public!

“DiscoTech” is short for “Discovering Technology.” The DiscoTech will offer interactive stations to demystify technology concepts related to open data and the City of Detroit’s Open Data Portal.

At the DiscoTech we will:

  • Demystify data.
  • Understand the risks of open data.
  • Understand how to use data in community organizing efforts.
  • Use data in creative ways.

Read more about the DiscoTech here. See you there!

Map: Detroit’s New Urban Form?

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This concept comes from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Sustainable Design Assessment Team report titled: “Leaner, Greener Detroit” (2008). In this concept the “urban villages” are the traditional, sometimes titled “viable” neighborhoods such as Mexicantown,  Midtown, and New Center. The AIA team assumes these urban villages to be self sustaining, walkable, and community-focused.

Map: Private Land Claims in Detroit 1810

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The first official land survey of Detroit was conducted by Aaron Greeley. After the US gained control of the Michigan Territory they needed an official record of land holdings. Greeley surveyed land in Detroit from 1809 to 1810 and his records were approved by Congress in 1812 which made his survey map the authoritative source of land claims.

However, Greeley’s survey did not include informal land grants or awards. As a result many Southeast Michigan residents appealed to Congress and eventually around 100 land claims were approved. Yet the boundaries of land claims continued to be contested for years following.

 

 

 

Map where a raindrop falls in Detroit

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Wondering where all this rain ends up? The EPA’s Environmental Atlas provides some really interesting tools, including tracking where a raindrop ends up when it lands in Detroit. After zooming into Wayne County, Michigan, in the gray navigation bar choose “Analysis Tools” and select the “Raindrop Tool.”

This is a great way to check out sewer/drainage infrastructure and how a raindrop nearly always ends up in the Detroit River.

Map: Park Acres Per Resident in Detroit

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A while back I saw this analysis completed by the WNYC Data News team on park access and wanted to recreate it for Detroit.

There has been a lot of change with parks over the years from the near closing of 50+ parks during Mayor Bing’s time, to an influx of funding to keep them open, then the widespread adoption of parks by community groups, now the new parks master plan, and $11.7 million being dedicated to 40 smaller neighborhood parks this summer.

The map was created by giving every census tract a half-mile buffer and then calculating how many acres of park space fell within those extended boundaries for each census tract. Those acres were then matched to the number of residents living within each census tract.

Some of Detroit’s more populated areas have much smaller parks. With more people and smaller park spaces that leaves fewer acres per person. Many people in the city benefit from Detroit’s many large parks, however the key missing variable here is safety/crime in parks as well as community perceptions of using park space for leisure or physical activity.

 

Map: Detroit Infant Mortality Rate 1922

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This map comes from the Detroit Department of Health’s report titled “A birdseye view of Detroit’s health status for the year 1922.” The city existed as 23 districts with “populations sufficiently large to make the comparison of rates worth while.” Infant mortality was tracked the same way we track it today as, “deaths under 1 year … per 1,000 living births.”

Some things don’t change which makes it possible to track improvements. Detroit’s infant mortality rate has improved significantly from 1922, but there is still work to be done in 2016.

Map: Detroit Building Heights

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The Renaissance Center (RenCen) can be seen from just about anywhere in the city. Why is that?

It is easy to forget that Detroit as a big city is in reality a city and suburbs combined. The outer neighborhoods first functioned as suburban enclaves to retreat to after a day’s work in the inner city and increasingly suburban factories.

Of Detroit’s 419,882 buildings, the tallest is the RenCen stands at 73 stories.

With only 47 unique building heights including just 5 buildings reaching 40 stories or more, Detroit is a stout city. There are only 44 buildings in the 20 – 39 stories range. The vast majority of buildings in Detroit are below 2 stories tall (n=397,744).

The tallest buildings are located Downtown.

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Detroit’s population change by block 2000-2010

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This map ran as part of a 2014 Washington Post piece featuring 6 maps that show people abandoning Detroit. Now we are more than halfway through the next decade and Downtown is reporting population growth while investments have increased in some neighborhoods and others are still in great need.

The most important story that this map tells is that not everyone’s Detroit story is the same. The people and their experiences change in the small distance between blocks.

Map: Detroit Building Age Density Map

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Nothing beats a good ol’ dot density map. In this case each land parcel was assigned a centroid (center point) and visualized by the year a building was built on the parcel. This accounts for newly vacant parcels, but not parcels that have more than one building.

Most of the newer construction has occurred in the more vacant areas, which could also represent larger land parcels being reduced to a point location (i.e. a hospital). There is some very interesting clustering of Pre-1900 and 1980-Present construction in Midtown, west of Midtown, and Corktown. At least in construction, Old Detroit and New Detroit prefer to be closer together?

Map: Residences and Industrial Areas of Employees in Detroit 1942

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The geographic distribution of jobs and access to opportunity is a major issue of the current revitalization effort. Many people cannot easily reach jobs that they need because they are too far away in the suburbs. These maps give an interesting picture of where people lived and worked when Detroit’s major industries were moving full tilt. All in all, people mostly lived fairly close to where they worked. The Henry Ford River Rouge Plant (above) was a key employer of the day in 1942, the jobs are not as many these days. Much of their workforce was pulled from Dearborn, but a substantial number of people lived nearby across Detroit. det-employees-connor-jefferson

The Connor-Jefferson industrial area may be one of the few that is still very active with the Chrysler Plant going strong.

det-employees-blvd-russellThe Boulevard-Russell industrial area is not so active anymore. There are some smaller companies left, but the Russell Industrial Center houses artists and lofts rather than industrial jobs.

det-employees-mich-livernois I’m not aware of any continued industrial activity in the Michigan-Livernois area besides some logistics and trucking activity. Anything else?

 

Map: Archipelago Detroit – Colonial Farming, Industrialization, and Transitions

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In 2010, Lars Gräbner of Volume One Studio and the University of Michigan Taubman College, began conducting a mapping study of Detroit in order to conceptualize a future for the city. The above series of maps were based on the Official Hearne Bros. Real Estate Atlas of the City of Detroit, Plats Map, Edition 500-50.

More from Lars Gräbner:

Colonial Farming

Colonial French Farming, structured in ribbon farms ensuring dependable access to the river since 1701.

Industrialization

Residential neighborhoods developed in dependable relationship to industrial corridors since 1806.

Ecologic Transition

Residential neighborhoods densify in dependable relationship to the productive landscape park (energy-park) in the future.

These maps were featured in Mapping Detroit (Chapter 8: Mapping the Urban Landscape: Revealing the Archipelago) available from the WSU Press.

Map: Detroit Annexation and Wayne County 1922

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Map from“A History of River Rouge, Michigan” by Frances E. Manor

“On January 1, 1922, a portion of Hamtramck Township was incorporated as the City of Hamtramck.

On April 3, 1922, a portion of Ecourse Township was incorporated as the City of RIver Rouge.

On May 3, 1922, a portion of Ecourse Township was annexed to the City of Detroit.

On November 10, 1922, a portion of Greenfield Township was annexed to the City of Detroit.

On November 21, 1922, a portion of Greenfield Township was annexed to the City of Detroit.”

Map: Landscape Park in Detroit Context

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This is the final product of the research and mapping that Lars Gräbner, of Volume One Studio and the University of Michigan Taubman College, completed in 2010. The concepts that came out of his research are in full bloom with this map that demonstrates the landscape park with existing Detroit infrastructure and planned future developments (such as M1 Rail).

More from Lars Gräbner:

The synoptic representation of Detroit’s landscape park.

These maps were featured in Mapping Detroit (Chapter 8: Mapping the Urban Landscape: Revealing the Archipelago) available from the WSU Press.

Map: Urban Agriculture in Detroit 2014

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I created this map to be included with an article, titled “Urban Agriculture: It’s not a Food Desert, it’s about Food Sovereignty,” that I contributed to the Progressive Planners Network publication.

Without running any statistics, there are some obvious overlaps in where people are and the locations of gardens and farms. In particular, there is a higher density of people (and incomes) on the Westside and similarly a higher density of gardens.

The data is based on information shared by Keep Growing Detroit and the US Census Bureau.

Map: The Landscape Park and Energy Production in Detroit

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In 2010, Lars Gräbner of Volume One Studio and the University of Michigan Taubman College, began conducting a mapping study of Detroit in order to conceptualize a future for the city.

More from Lars Gräbner:

“The establishment of the urban productive landscape park allows for a range of landuses and activities (ranked by intensity of intervention):

  1. wet land restoration
  2. energy crop production
  3. solar fields
  4. recreational opportunities
  5. cultural amenities

Transition areas:

  • urban farming and neighborhood gardens
  • ‘rural’ living in low density areas
  • recreational amenities close to residents

A minimum of 5,000 households could be supplied with heat, while electricity could be produced for an equivalent of 30,000 households per year*, provided all of the available 10,000 hectares (38.6 sq miles) of the Landscape Park were put to production.

If additionally a minimum of 50% of the transitional areas contribute also to the energy production, at least 6,300 homes can be heated and 38,000 homes can be supplied with electricity total.

*Average home electricity use per year: 6,139 kWh and the average annual fuel usage in Michigan is 35,520 kWh (1,212 therms/gal)

These maps were featured in Mapping Detroit (Chapter 8: Mapping the Urban Landscape: Revealing the Archipelago) available from the WSU Press.

Map: If the Detroit River Flooded

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This is a purely hypothetical map from the same group that created the flawed “Detroit Elevation Map.” This map is based on water level rising by 600 feet (183 meters). They’ve utilized Nasa’s 90m resolution SRTM data and modeled it based on potential sea level rise.

If the 2014 floods were any indicator, the river and sea level rise are the least of our flooding worries.

See also: 1981 Flood Insurance Map

 

Map: Ecological Urban Intervention Zones

 

Archipelago Detroit 08

In 2010, Lars Gräbner of Volume One Studio and the University of Michigan Taubman College, began conducting a mapping study of Detroit in order to conceptualize a future for the city.

More from Lars Gräbner:

“The levels of urban intervention range from the opportunity for entire restructuring processes and clearance from structures (darkest color) to reinterpreting low density neighborhoods (lightest color).

These maps were featured in Mapping Detroit (Chapter 8: Mapping the Urban Landscape: Revealing the Archipelago) available from the WSU Press.

Map: Detroit’s Racially Concentrated Areas of Affluence and Poverty

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A while back The Atlantic included these maps from researchers at the University of Minnesota in an article titled, “Where the White People Live.” The red areas are racially concentrated areas of affluence and the blue are racially concentrated areas of poverty.

According to the research:

“Detroit [region] has 55 racially concentrated areas of affluence and 147 racially concentrated areas of poverty, […]. Detroit’s racially concentrated areas of affluence are just 1.1 percent black. Its racially concentrated areas of poverty, by contrast, are 76 percent black.”

The research also tracked federal dollars in these areas and found that three times more federal money is spent in racially concentrated areas of affluence, effectively subsidizing the segregation of housing, mobility, and place.