Map: Locals and Tourists in Detroit

Posted on February 9, 2016

I was reminded that Erica Fischer didn’t just bring us the Racial Dot maps or the recent Geotaggers Atlas, they also dug into Twitter data to determine where “locals” and “tourists” frequent. Where “locals” are blue, the main artery roads are well marked. It appears that WSU and UDM students constitute “locals” largely due to their limited travel patterns. Similarly, “locals” seem to visit or live in New Center rather than Downtown. The Downtown and Corktown areas are bright red from all the “tourist” activity.

Map: Detroit’s Vacant and Residential Archipelago 2010

Posted on February 8, 2016

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 superimposition of data of actual vacant parcels and residential buildings onto the analytical map of levels of structural loss by census block groups allows the evaluation of intervening actions with higher precision and intention.

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

Map: Detroit Zoning in Pastel

Posted on February 5, 2016

There is no point to this map besides showing zoning data in fun pink and pastel colors. Enjoy!

A few years back I was given a parking ticket because something about residential zoning, curb cuts, and sidewalks. The truth was that the “residential” lot was a gravel parking lot used by DMC labs to park their courier vans. Turns out there are special requirements for curbside parking along residential zoned land parcels.

Many of Detroit’s large and small parks are zoned “residential” (i.e. See Palmer Park in Zone 29) rather than “parks and rec” like Rouge Park.

Detroit Elevation Map

Posted on February 3, 2016

This “elevation map” of Detroit utilizes NASA’s 90m resolution SRTM data in order to assume topography. As is readily evident, the map shows building heights rather than any topography or land elevation as there is minimal change in elevation across Detroit. Although, it does look pretty.

Downtown and Lafayette Park (see below) show obvious increases in elevation based on skyscrapers.

Map: Post-Industrial Greenways in Detroit

Posted on February 1, 2016

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 relationship between current and former industrial sites and the proposed greenway system demonstrates a potential for a cultural access to the post-industrial landscape park.

The potential for adaptive re-use can be envisioned in a network of combined live-work and cultural corridors, highly connected to the landscape park.

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

Map: Rating Accessibility of Detroit’s Pedestrian Bridges

Posted on January 29, 2016

I had the pleasure of working with the 71X research team to visualize the data that they had collected on Detroit’s pedestrian (only) bridges. The student research team surveyed all 71 pedestrian bridges in Detroit.

From the 71X Team:

This is an independent study—an awareness-builder, too—introducing one side of a three-pronged problem in the City of Detroit. The intersection of accessibility, public health and safety. The team is comprised of Urban Studies’ students and community organizers working toward a more accessible Motor City. We study infrequent public transit and below standard “non-motorized” infrastructure with a commitment, again, to a prosperous Metro Area. From our vantage, Detroit is a big, three hundred and fifteen year old city severed into over a hundred neighborhoods. What is easily noticeable is its one-of-a-kind, sunken expressway network. It snakes through town, and detaches the city from itself. Interstates 75, 94, 96, and State Highways 8, 10 and 39 were carved out in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s by planners who we view, “misforecasted” the outcome of their design. (No, that’s not a word.) We feel planners, Big Auto, and regional leadership placed a low priority on a walkable city, safe for kids and accessible to elders and people with disabilities.

Today, low income residents traveling between neighborhoods—including those who cannot afford to lease (26%) or insure (approx. $5,000/yr.) a car—rely on public transport, six-to-eight-lane surface roads, and 71 pedestrian bridges to get where they need to be, on time. To the 5.3 million people of the country’s 11^th largest Metro, the foot bridges we visited are an afterthought. There is no context for why bridges exist, where they do, and whether they are necessary (they are). We were curious to see how these points of connection, perform: what do residents have to say? Is each bridge equally maintained? What is the maintenance schedule?

Results:

The structural integrity of 33 bridges, or 46%, is compromised. These structures are in operation yet each had observable issues ranging from crumbling and disintegrating concrete to significantly rusted support beams, down signage and missing fencing and railing.
36 of the 71 bridges, or 51%, are inaccessible. These structures do not have ADA-compliant curbs or cannot be climbed by people in wheelchairs.
14 bridges, or 20%, connect service drives where cars speed and pedestrians are met with dangerous sight lines.
46 bridges, or 65%, contain trash, glass, graphic imagery and gang-inspired graffiti.
64 bridges, or 90%, are part of a critical route for walking to a transit stop.
7 of the bridges, or 10%, are closed.

Conclusions:

The study did not aim to count unique users or trips per bridge. It is clear to see Detroit residents do rely on pedestrian bridges year-round. We found that instead of a byway connecting separate, isolated districts as would be assumed by the conventional observer, due to state of varying disrepair and underlying economic realities of the city neighborhoods, these bridges serve as unpredictable barriers, and in some cases, islands for criminal behavior. Residents are wary of crossing bridges due to safety concerns. Bridges serve as unpredictable barriers, and in some cases, islands for drug trade. Teenagers hurl objects—bottles and rocks—onto fast-moving traffic below.

Our combined 335 hours in the field included meeting hard-working residents and block club organizers. The feedback we collected supports our claim that there is a dire need for a collaboration between government and community to ensure safe, welcoming pedestrian bridges are a high priority in Detroit. Our report communicates a need for regional leadership to declare safe, welcoming pedestrian bridges are a high priority in Detroit. As the lead agency shaping the future of our State’s transportation system, our report is a request to MDOT to let us help employ a whatever-it-takes approach to upgrading city pedestrian bridges. Let’s protect each law-abiding citizen the same.

Feedback:

Find your City Council district on this map (click here) and complete the form for your district!

Map: Geotaggers’ Atlas of Detroit

Posted on January 27, 2016

Erica Fischer has done it again. They became well known for this city map series on racial dot density, which has become widely used after their project in 2000.

They’ve now released the “Geotaggers’ World Atlas” via Mapbox by utilizing Flickr photos from the past decade. Now they just needs to include photos geotagged on Instagram. Looks like Detroit’s tourist economy is centered Downtown, Corktown (Michigan Central Station), some New Center, and definitely the Packard Plant.

HT @TerryParrisJr

Map: Archipelago of Housing Conditions 2010

Posted on January 25, 2016

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 excess supply of fragmented vacant land allows no clear prediction of how the city might develop and in which way the built and spatial environment will adapt to the situation. Based on the traditional means of planning, the new city is hardly amenable to planning.

An unconventional and creative strategic framework is inevitably necessary. The questions will arise: Which patterns of change in land use will occur? What kind of reoccurring planning and urban design patterns will emerge? What kind of new social and economic opportunities might reveal themselves?

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

Map: The Fight for “Uptown” – Detroit’s Newest Branded Neighborhood

Posted on January 22, 2016

In recent years we’ve seen Midtown expand its reach and Downtown extend its boundary to include the Arena District. The next segment of the Woodward Corridor to see renewed interest is “Uptown.”

You may be familiar with Uptown BBQ down by the University of Detroit-Mercy on Livernois Ave. or perhaps you’ve noticed the faded lettering on the dilapidated “Uptown Radio Appliance” in Highland Park. The first Detroit neighborhood that I moved to was the University District and I always felt that “Uptown” was a good name for the area.

In a 2014 Urban Innovation Exchange profile, MJ Galbraith named Barbara Barefield the, “Dynamo of the Uptown arts scene” (UIX), which appears to include Palmer Woods and the adjacent Palmer Park.

I honestly haven’t done my historical research to discover the origin of the “Uptown” name, but now that there is money behind it I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more about “Uptown.” The Live6 Alliance is centered on the Livernois -McNichols intersection and hopes to apply the Midtown success in another area of Detroit with a density of “anchor institutions” (Marygrove College, University of Detroit-Mercy, etc.). The Kresge Foundation is the primary funder of the initiative. The area includes the historic Livernois “Avenue of Fashion” which has received a good chunk of funding from DEGC and other groups pushing the economic revitalization of the area.

“It’s Uptown,” Alicia Biggers-Gaddies, Bagley Community Council (MLive)

The MLive article states that Gaddies has lived in the Bagley neighborhood since 1996 and started referring to as “Uptown.” However, she isn’t the only one hoping the “Uptown” moniker sticks to her development efforts. Tami Salisbury, Executive Director of the Eight Mile Boulevard Association, has been trying to rebrand the area known as the Gateway Marketplace (Meijer, Applebees, etc.) as “Uptown” in order to build a new identity for 8 Mile (Model D).

“We spend an awful lot of time with downtown Detroit, we spend an awful lot of time with Midtown. I think it’s time to spend some time with Uptown,” Wayne County Executive Warren Evans (AP)

There is something to be said for a branded investment district in an area of Detroit where there are already a density of long-time Detroit residents making things happen. If all of the above mapped areas were included in a new “Uptown” district, they encompass roughly 11 square miles. Could it be a new district that rivals Greater Downtown‘s 7.2 square miles?

Detroit Map of 1812

Posted on January 20, 2016

This map available in the Detroit Public Library Digital Collections, Burton Historical Collections includes the description:

“Summary. The city of Detroit, after having been occupied at a military post by the French, English, and Americans for the last 150 years, was abandoned as such on the 27th of May, and the troops stationed there were send on to Green Bay.”

It’s easy to see that Detroit was a fortified city preparing for the War of 1812 with numerous gun batteries along the river. The piece that stands out most to me are the separate English and French “burying grounds” just a block North of Woodward and Jefferson. I wonder what 19th century ghosts haunt One Detroit Center. . .

Map: Inhabited and Vacant Parcels in Detroit 2010

Posted on January 18, 2016

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 city of Detroit has labored under the mistaken premise that a city that once almost had two million residents will regain its population and with that the needed tax base. After tumultuous years of battling with the loss of population and the paradoxical attempt to maintain the original infrastructure, services, and administration, the city and its citizens have come to the realization that the situation will need to be faced with a different approach. For the first time the city government leaders have used the term ‘right sizing’, also referred to as ‘shrinking.’ With the awareness that the population will not grow, the city has entered a new era of realism.

Numerous organizations are already working on ideas and concepts to not only acknowledge the situation, but also find ways to tackle the new direction. The excess supply of fragmented vacant land allows no clear prediction of how the city might develop and in which way the built and spatial environment will adapt to the situation. Based on the traditional means of planning, the new city is hardly amenable to planning. An unconventional and creative strategic framework is inevitably necessary.

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

Workshop: Data, Mapping, and Research Justice

Posted on January 15, 2016

I’ll be teaching the workshop on data and making maps again this February 2016 with Allied Media Projects/ Co.Open. We’ll journey through the entire process; from paper survey to digital database and then basic map visualizations and analysis. We will only be working with free and open source software (LibreOffice, Google Sheets, QGIS, Gimp).

Check out some of the past projects:

Monday nights in February (4 weeks long) 6-9pm

Sign up at store.alliedmedia.org

Map: Detroit Street Guide 1947

Posted on January 13, 2016

This map in the New York Public Library Digital Collections is one of my favorites. It shows all forms of transit in Detroit from streets, streetcar rail, and motor coach (bus). In 1947, Detroit was nearing its peak population recorded in the 1950 Decennial Census. There was a great need for multi-modal transit options across the entire city network.

Map: The Urban Archipelago in Detroit 2010

Posted on January 11, 2016

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. This was well before the Detroit Works Project (DWP) and Detroit Future City (DFC) even entered the “future planning” arena. You can see many of his ideas reflected in those plans, but with an absence of his goal to consider the indeterminate and highlight the potentially liberating practice of mapping for the future.

We’ll be sharing a map each week (12 total) from his Detroit mapping project, which was featured in Mapping Detroit (Chapter 8: Mapping the Urban Landscape: Revealing the Archipelago) available from the WSU Press.

More from Lars Gräbner:

Although the reductive nature of maps suggests a spatial and compositional truth, the mapping project on Detroit is not meant to reflect objective reality, but rather bears a certain level of indeterminacy. Indeed, the project is rather meant as a liberating tool for orchestrating the conditions into new, creative combinations.

The results of the following investigation might seem to be of morphological and visual nature; however, through the process of mapping, the urban landscape will eventually reveal spatial border conditions, urban transitional situations, productive field conditions as well as coherences in the existing urban context.

Turning our attention to the matter of urban perforation as it appears in Detroit, we will find an astonishing potential in the landscape, when looking through the analytical lens of the map.

Map: What is Greater Downtown Detroit?

Posted on January 8, 2016

This is somewhat of the same old story where different groups of people with a lot of money don’t agree on what boundaries matter.The question is really less: “what is Greater Downtown” and really more “What will Greater Downtown become?”

Downtown

There have been a slew of recent articles noting the growth and expansion of Detroit’s “heart.” Whatever that means. Bedrock Real Estate and Rock Ventures have pushed the Quicken Loans Downtown plan with Capital Park quickly being renovated, assumedly with the Woodward Corridor being next (M1 streetcar). Dan Gilbert has said that its time to start going vertical Downtown before office space runs out and seems to have firm plans to build skyward on the old Hudson’s site.

Midtown

Always in the news for the events, cultural attractions, and new happenings, Midtown doesn’t have as much new development left except around the edges. There are a handful of housing pockets getting filled in around Art Center (Cultural Center) and on Palmer Street with plans for a highrise apartment on a Wayne State parking lot. The Midtown edge along Third Street has seen renewed interest as the Illitch’s Olympia builds up the neighboring “Entertainment District.” The Woodward Corridor will also soon see a large housing development at the former Professional Plaza across from Orchestra Hall.

Brush Park/ Brewster

Brush Park has been a highlight in the news following the final demolition of the Brewster Douglass housing complex. The stalled announcement noted that the Rec Center will be renovated, housing built, and restaurants added. Dan Gilbert, Duggan, and Co have bought up all the available land to build new housing, including renovating historic homes like the Ransom Gillis House.

Eastern Market

Bert’s Warehouse is up for auction a third time. More new restaurants have opened in the area. Housing plans seem to have faltered after the Bing/Pulte collaboration to raze a large swath of vacant lots. However, plans remain to expand the boundary of the Eastern Market district and include more residential housing.

Corktown

There’s always some new restaurant opening in Corktown. The latest development news came when Galapagos Art Space decided to put their original warehouse location back on the market (for 12 times what they paid) because they secured three times the space in Highland Park. This year the Old Tiger’s Stadium is also set to be remade with a mixed-use development.

East Riverfront (Rivertown)

An area targeted for increased development since the 1970s, the riverfront and riverwalk are key growth areas for housing and retail. The riverfront is a key connector between Downtown, Lafayette Park, and The Villages (Indian, East, West, Islandview, and Gold Coast).

Woodbridge & New Center & Lafayette Park

On the edges of everything that is happening, these areas will likely see increased interest in housing, rising costs, and more potential in-fill housing developments.

AREAS TO WATCH

Milwaukee Junction & Northend & Medbury Park

Located adjacent to the Woodward Corridor, these two areas have already been targeted for redevelopment and investment. New housing and art space is set to expand in Milwaukee Junction and the Northend has seen an increase in investment for the arts.

Henry Ford & Techtown

In what had been known as Lasalle Gardens, Henry Ford Health System has looked south to invest in warehouse space for a new medical supply venture and opportunity to offer live-work options for employees. Wayne State University just recently opened the iBio Building to further the advancement of medical tech innovations. Other big changes are on the horizon as well with renovation of the viaducts and future placemaking plans.

Core City & Hubbard Richard & West Side Industrial

As Corktown and Southwest continue to see successes and expansions, I can only imagine that these neighborhoods will quickly see more development in housing and retail options.

Map: Cadillac is proud of Detroit Annexation 1903

Posted on January 6, 2016

Another gem discovered by the Detroit’s greatest archive comber, Paul Sewick.

The cartoon appears to depict Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac crossing off various “suburbs” to expand Detroit’s borders. Around this time of annexation, Detroit swallowed up St. Clair Heights, Village of Springwells, North Detroit, and others until reaching its current city limits within the next three decades.

Source: The Detroit Free Press, 10/17/1903

Map: Downtown Detroit Population Loss since 1900

Posted on January 4, 2016

The recent population gains Downtown and the increased purchasing, speculation, and construction are a divergence from Detroit’s past. The Downtown area was losing population as far back as 1900 largely due to the number of factories creating polluted air and water. As Detroit continued to expand outward, Downtown didn’t see a resurgence until the 1950-60s era of “urban renewal” which saw rampant inequality put to use for urban planning gains for limited success.

In the current Downtown redevelopment, a different strategy must be employed if we are to avoid the failings of the past. Perhaps if Downtown is so important then investments will be made to more easily allow the whole city and region to enjoy and benefit from its redevelopment?

Source: “Emergence and Growth of an Urban Region – The Developing Urban Detroit Area, Vol. 3”, Doxiadis Associates, Wayne State University and The Detroit Edison Company, 1970

Map: Wayne State University Student Parking 1960

Posted on December 30, 2015

wsu-parking-1960

There is far more parking these days at or around Wayne State University. Did you attend WSU in the 1960s and remember parking?

In 1960, parking rates were 15 cents per hour. This past year (2015) parking rates increased at lots across the campus with new parking lots being added as the campus footprint expands.

Map: Building Conditions in the Grand Boulevard Sector Detroit

Posted on December 28, 2015

From Doxiadis’ “Emergence and Growth of an Urban Region” Volume 2 based on data from the Commercial Renewal Study by the Detroit City Planning Commission in 1958.

What is interesting about this map is that we can compare to today’s conditions as this “Grand Boulevard Sector” encompasses the current hotspots for redevelopment: Downtown, Midtown, Corktown, Eastern Market, and the East Riverfront. In 1958, we can already see from the map the pre-1960s economic and industrial decline in the city’s core with a cluster of poor conditioned buildings along Woodward in what is now Midtown.

Map: Detroit Neighborhood Coffee Shop Density 2015

Posted on December 18, 2015

Some research has said that the existence of coffee shops is a marker of gentrification (Papachristos et al., 2011). A Zillow study found a correlation between Starbucks locations and rising rent and home values. The problem is that Starbucks stores often locate in wealthier neighborhoods, so it becomes difficult to say what is the true relational direction. However, in 2008 Starbucks closed some 600 locations in relatively poorer areas. If anything the jury is still out on coffee shops being a driver or simply an indicator of broader social policies that contribute to gentrification.

Specifically in Detroit, where do home values have to go but up? Demolished seems to be the only other option. In October 2015, Dynamo Metrics release a report funded by the Skillman Foundation and Rock Ventures that attempted to model spatial-temporal impacts on home values from demolitions. The study followed commonly held knowledge that blight depresses home values combined with tracking pre- and post- home values adjacent to demolition sites.

In Detroit, demolitions are the new coffee shops?

Map: Detroit Cultural Workforce 2011

Posted on December 16, 2015

This map generated by Data Driven Detroit and Miller Dickinson Blais accompanied a Kresge Foundation report called “Creative Vitality in Detroit: The Detroit Cultural Mapping Project.”

What is most interesting is that the cultural spaces and industries are concentrated in areas where the cultural workforce does not live. Those who are created and maintaining Detroit’s cultural assets are unable to live near them. The creative economy is often touted as an element of Detroit’s revitalization, but this map presents a stark picture of where and who is benefiting.