Author Archives: Alex B. Hill

Map: The Greening of Detroit 1975-1992

greeningdetroit1975-1992This map comes from Solstice: An Electronic Journal of Geography and Mathematics (Volume VII, Number 1, 1996) at the University of Michigan. Authors John Nystuen, Rhonda Ryznar, and Thomas Wagner utilized Landsat imagery to do an fascinating analysis of a greening Detroit, which was largely due to increased vacancy and natural regrowth on abandoned structures.

Figure 1.  Landsat change image of Detroit showing changes in 
urban greenness from 1975 to 1992.  Imagery and analysis are joint 
ventures between Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) and 
The University of Michigan, College of Architecture and Urban Planning.  
Green areas show tracts with greenness increase; red areas with 
greenness decrease; black areas, no change. Change data derived from TM 
1992 and MSS 1975 images of vegetation reflectance.

Map: Martin Luther King Jr. and Detroit

mlk-detroitMartin Luther King Jr. has a well documented presence in Detroit. He made a number of notable appearances in the city that inspired many working for civil rights in Detroit, including Grace Lee Boggs. King’s most famous Detroit appearance was the June 23, 1963 “Walk to Freedom” where 125,000 marched with him down Woodward Ave. and 25,000 listened to his speech in Cobo Arena. The 1963 speech was a test run for his ‘I Have a Dream” speech given during the March on Washington in August of the same year.

“I have a dream this afternoon, that one day, right here in Detroit, Negroes will be able to buy a house or rent a house anywhere that their money will carry them, and they will be able to get a job.”

  1. 1958 – King gives speech at 78th annual National Baptist Convention of America held at the King Solomon Baptist Church
  2. June 23, 1963 – “Walk to Freedom” down Woodward (start at Adelaide), speech afterwards in Cobo Hall
  3. Sept. 1963 – National Baptists Congress held at the King Solomon Baptist Church
  4. 1968 – “The Future of Integration” speech at Grosse Pointe [South] High School

A bust King was placed in pocket park at corner of Rosa Parks Blvd. & E. Grand Blvd. in 1981. Other namesakes include: Eastern High School renamed in 1968 as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School, Martin Luther King Apartments, Martin Luther King Junior Education Center, and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Anyone know what year Myrtle was renamed to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd?

Map: Where Are All the People in Detroit – Occupancy and Foreclosure

det-occupied2There is a common media narrative that Detroit is empty, a blank slate, a blank canvas where anything can be done. However, this false narrative doesn’t account for the nearly 700,000 people who do live in the city. I pulled all of the “occupied, partially occupied, and possibly occupied” properties out of the Motor City Mapping (MCM) data and the above map is the result.

I found 203,723 occupied structures, which is an 81% structure occupancy rate and a total of 54% of properties with occupied structures. This doesn’t necessarily account for parks or large unused former industrial properties. The map however gives a far different picture than the common media narrative of an empty Detroit.

det-occupied-foreclosures2This year the Wayne County Treasurer identified 61,912 properties in Detroit for foreclosure in 2015. Loveland Technologies found that 35,669 of these properties (63%) are occupied according to the MCM survey data. More from Jerry of Loveland Technologies:

“According to Motor City Mapping data cross-referenced with the Wayne County Treasurer’s list of incoming foreclosures, 35,669 occupied residential homes are entering tax foreclosure in 2015. At an average 2.74 occupants per residence, as many as 97,733 people are estimated to live in these homes.“

The potential loss of almost 100,000 more people from the city would not help any kind of revitalization. The foreclosure crisis is far from over for Detroit, which has seen a disproportionate amount of discriminatory subprime mortgage lending. Innovative solutions are needed quickly to help Detroit residents keep their homes.

Update:

Video from Loveland Technologies: A Hurricane Without Water: Detroit Property Tax Foreclosure, 2015

Data: 40% of Detroit Households Have No Internet Service

det-internetIn our current age of digital solutions for urban problems this stark digital divide cannot be overlooked.

Bill Callahan, director of Connect Your Community 2.0 compiled data from the American Community Survey (ACS) 2013 to come up with estimates for major US cities. Detroit ranked #2 for worst connectivity. That means that Detroit households had no access to internet, not even a smartphone.

As the City of Detroit launches more mobile apps, start-ups develop digital solutions, and services continually move online – there needs to be a recognition analog connections are necessary. That is unless Detroit wants to leave almost half of its population out of the loop.

Civic technology that utilizes texting services, community groups that help residents increase technology literacy, library branches that offer internet access, and old fashioned people-to-people canvassing will be critical pieces of inclusive Detroit development.

Some great examples of addressing this digital divide are the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition’s (DDJC) Disco-Techs introducing technology at community events around Detroit and the Detroit Digital Stewards program that provided community technology training focused on community mesh networks for internet connectivity.

Map: Detroit Future City 1970

dox-future-plan0001

This map comes from Volume 3 of “Emergence and Growth of an Urban Region: The Developing Urban Detroit Area” completed in Constantinos Doxiadis and associates. The project was a collaboration between The Detroit Edison Company (DTE), Wayne State University, and Doxiadis Associates. Being that the 3 volumes (each around 400 pages) were privately funded the plans and ideas never came to pass.

If you compare the above Doxiadis map and plans with the most recent Detroit Future City (DFC) plan there are some striking similarities beyond color scheme. The main differences seem to be that Doxiadis did not make a plan for a future with continually decreasing population where the DFC includes large swaths of ecological and green land uses that plan for no people.

detroit_works_01

Map: Detroit Area Ethnic Groups 1971

det-ethnic-groups-1971

The Detroit Historical Society has so many great maps in their archives!

This map is an excellent addition to the series of maps that we have ranging from:

Mystery Federal Map of Detroit

fed-map-detroit The significance of this map is in what has been added. Certain areas have been outlined and points placed across the map. It is unclear what it all means. The added key on the right regarding the points reads:

Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 7.27.15 AM

All that is known is that it was created (year unknown) by the Federal Lithograph Company of the Marquette Building. Leave a comment if you can solve the mystery! Thanks!

Source: Digital Collections – Burton Historical Collection

Map: The Growth of Parking Lots in Downtown Detroit

dox-parking

The expansion of parking in Downtown Detroit has followed the economic decline and loss of activity Downtown. There has been a fascination with the growth of parking lots for quite some time. We’ve compiled parking lot maps from the 1936, 1974, and 2011. Constantinos Doxiadis and associates created these series of maps that follow the parking pattern with the city development.

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: Extent of Detroit City Services 1870

det-city-services-1870

This map shows how far streets have been paved, where the fire department will serve, and sewer system.

The Detroit Historical Society writes:

“In 1870 it would have been important to show what parts of the city received certain services. This map is shaded pink where fire protection was offered, blue highlights paved roads, and red indicate sewer lines.”

Map: Detroit Area Traffic Destinations 1955

det-traffic-study

This is one of the most beautiful maps from the Detroit Historical Society collection.

“The Detroit Metropolitan Area Traffic Study produced this map in 1955 charting “trip desire”. This means it shows where the most popular destinations are for all vehicle trips within the metropolitan area.”

Map: Income, Race, and Toxic Release in Detroit

det-toxic-release

Elisavet Papatheodorou, MSW created this map for a community group in the Delray area of Southwest Detroit. She writes:

“Low-income communities of color in urban areas often bear a disproportionate burden of environmental pollution. This map measures environmental justice disparities in Wayne County communities based on the presence of toxic chemicals and one social factor: median family income.”

The data sources for the map:

“This map shows EPA Toxic Release Sites in Wayne County, Michigan as they related to median family income in 2009 (American Community Survey, 2005—2009). Green points mark toxic release sites while income brackets are classified by color. White areas on the map signify areas without income data. These are often industrial parks or complexes.  Note the white areas such as Zug Island and Carbon Works.

Note the concentration of sites in Southwest Detroit and adjoining suburbs such as River Rouge. Conversely, note the absence of sites in proximity to the highest income areas such as Grosse Pointe.”

 

Map: Detroit Streetlights 1897

det-public-lighting-1897

I’m so excited that the Detroit Historical Society has started a regular post of maps from their archives!

“In 1897, the Public Lighting Commission mapped every street light in the city, differentiating tower lights and single pole lights. Published by The Calvert Lith. & Eng. Co.”

We attempted to FOIA the current locations of streetlights from the Public Lighting Authority (PLA) and were told we couldn’t have the data. Anyone have the data and willing to share? DetroitData.org

Map of Detroit Interurban Lines 1915

detroit_interurban_1280

This map comes from the 1915 “Report on Detroit Street Railway Traffic and Proposed Subway.”

On East-West Lines:

“These lines carried 130,553,415 passengers (including transfers) in 1914. Here again it must be noted that all of this traffic was not carried across the center of the city, but the figures give the relative importance of this group of lines.”

On Interurban Lines:

“These lines provide a valuable function in connecting the city with a very widely distributed interurban district, and also run a through service to cities of considerable size.

Source: Report on Detroit Street Railway Traffic and Proposed Subway

Detroit Redlining Map 1939

NOTE: These are not “redlining” maps, but just one piece of the story of home disenfranchisement of Black Americans. Read more on HOLC lending in Detroit. Read more: Before Redlining and Beyond.

DetroitHOLC-MED_2000

Part of Detroit’s history of racial discrimination is comprised on housing discrimination, which in turn contributed to job discrimination, interpersonal racism, and continued racial inequity of opportunity. These areas of Detroit were targeted for “urban renewal” in the 1960s which displaced thousands of black residents to public housing complexes. Today these areas of Detroit have more vacancy (see map) than others either because the redlined properties were managed by slumlords whose properties deteriorated (see map) more quickly or from renewal efforts that didn’t consider the displacement of black residents.

The racial divisions we see in our neighborhoods today are the result of deliberate actions taken in the past. (State of Opportunity)

This segregation of housing, which was legal up until the 1980s, also furthered school segregation and the inadequate education of Detroit’s black children. More from State of Opportunity:

One of the clearest visual representations of how racist policies shaped our neighborhoods comes from a mapping project launched in the 1930s by the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. The HOLC was created in 1933 in response to the Great Depression as a way to help stabilize the housing market in the U.S. It did so by refinancing home mortgages and reshaping the entire residential lending industry. Along the way, HOLC commissioned so-called “Residential Security Maps” for more than 200 U.S. cities. These maps served as a guide for home lenders, including banks and the Federal Housing Administration.

You can find other HOLC maps online at: urbanoasis.org

Check out this great map mashup of redlining 1939 and black neighborhoods in 1940 from Paul Szewczyk:

det_redlining_black_nhoods

 

UPDATE: 01/14/22

I was able to recreate Paul’s image mashup with data from the 1940 Census from NHGIS and digitized HOLC areas from the University of Richmond “Mapping Inequality” project.

Notably these are not “redlining” maps, but one piece of the story of home disenfranchisement of Black Americans. Read more at Before Redlining and Beyond.

Map: Detroit Greenhouse Gas Emissions

det-gas-emissions

Electricity use in the city contributed 45 percent to 2012 citywide emissions, due in part to DTE Energy’s fuel mix, which consists of 76 percent coal.

“Energy use in buildings accounts for nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated in Detroit, while exhaust from cars, trucks and buses is responsible for about 30 percent of the total, according to a new citywide inventory compiled by University of Michigan student researchers.

About 41 percent of the emissions from stationary sources—which include residential and commercial buildings, industrial processes, solid waste incineration and wastewater treatment—are produced within four ZIP codes located in the city’s southwest, midtown and downtown areas.

The report also shows that:

  • Electricity use in the city contributed 45 percent to 2012 citywide emissions, due in part to DTE Energy’s fuel mix, which consists of 76 percent coal.
  • In 2012, four city of Detroit departments—Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, Detroit Public Lighting Department, Detroit Department of Public Works and the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority—were responsible for 93 percent of city government emissions.
  • Trees cover about 23.5 percent of the city and are estimated to sequester 70,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, an amount equivalent to taking 15,000 cars off the road for one year.”

Read more on the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Project at U of M

Map: Will the M1 Rail Streetcar Serve Detroit Residents?

m1rail_pop

The impact of the M1 Rail 3.3 mile-long streetcar has been an ongoing debate and a number of community organizations have voiced concerns that the M1 Rail does little to serve actual residents of Detroit. The M1 Rail project essentially says the same thing. M1 Rail is looking to serve the “choice rider” to facilitate getting around Downtown and Midtown’s attractions. The private funders joined forces after seeing the failure of public transportation during the Super Bowl in 2006. It is safe to say that the M1 Rail was not conceived of as a transportation option for residents, but rather for visitors.

“[…] the project will affect pedestrians, people in wheel chairs and bike riders. Ironically, the project will also impact bus riders, most of whom will have relatively little use for the trolley.“ (source)

The residential density along the M1 Rail is minimal at best compared to the rest of the city. Utilizing data from the Motor City Mapping project and employing a quarter (0.25) mile “walkable” buffer you can easily demonstrate the low number of Detroit residents served by the M1 Rail. The project site mentions serving 36,000 residents (5% of population based on Census 2010), however that seems like a generous estimation based on the locations of occupied residential and mixed properties located in the 0.25 mile radius of the M1 Rail stations. Just imagine if the streetcar line added just one or two more stops in the Northend, look at all those occupied residential properties that would have gained another transit option.

m1rail_buff

There are hopes for future expansion of the M1 Rail that reaches to the full 9 miles to the 8 Mile Rd. border, but that is up to the new Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) to spearhead. There are also hopes for increased development and new density along the streetcar line. The M1 Rail project often mentions Dallas, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, and Salt Lake City all operating with modern streetcar systems – yet they fail to realize that these project were successful because of the existing density where the streetcar lines were built.

I have no doubt that more private money will ensure the M1 Rail is “successful,” it is just unfortunate to watch the failure of future planning and the lack of true support for public transportation systems that benefit Detroit residents.

Map: General Condition of Structures in the Detroit Trumbull Community

dgei-trumbull0001This map comes from the Detroit Geographic Expedition and Institute (DGEI) Field Notes 4, which appears to be after William Bunge left Wayne State University and his name is not on any of the materials. This map features data from a few surveys of property conditions and blight ratings.

The DGEI began focusing on specific communities and neighborhoods in Detroit that were experiencing the ill effects of “renewal.” This particular report focused on the Trumbull community which saw a disproportionate lack of police even with its proximity to WSU and the increasing funding being garnered by the WSU Police Department, the loss of a public playfield (Mattheai) to WSU sports facilities, and the general lack of recreational space.

 

Detroit Street Map Transparency

det-street-map-transparency

An interesting map from the Digital Collections at DPL, the label reads: “This land is being badly used now, with no direction or purpose for people or industry. Red represents commercial business, blue is industry, yellow residential and black all other uses. See how jumbled it is today.”

Unfortunately, the year is unknown for this map.

Source: Digital Collections – Burton Historical Collections

Map: Ethnic Migrations in Detroit 1900 – 1950

ethnic-migrations-detroit

Thanks to the opening up of the Digital Collections at the Detroit Public Library we now have access to some awesome historical maps.

This one is a fascinating example of the migration paths of various immigrant communities in Detroit.

Source: Digital Collections – Burton Historical Collections

Skillman Foundation Loves Detroit Maps and Data

IMG_1116

I was recently at a meeting with the Skillman Foundation and was happy to find a hallway of maps and data. I only just learned that the Skillman “Good Neighborhoods” were selected because of the higher numbers of children that live in those particular areas. It is always nice to see an organization with a love for maps and data for focused decision-making.