Detroit : open city

Detroit is often regarded as America's largest city in decline, a metropolis that has failed to recover from an insidious cycle of deindustrialization, racism, suburban flight and laggard politics. This image of the city highlights the tragic aspects of Detroit's urban development and obscures the numerous initiatives and opportunities for social and spatial development that have emerged as a result of the city's particular evolution. This thesis examines the recent transformations in Detroit's urban environment to provide a more nuanced picture of the city and to develop new planning tools that address its ills. To do this, I explore the major forces that have affected the city over the last 100 years and survey the efforts of 10 ocal initiatives engaged in the process of urban reconstruction. This analysis informs the final component of the thesis, a collection of strategies for urban design, spatial management, and social-cultural development that illustrate ways in which Detroit could reprogram vacant and, bolster ailing public schools, reorganize its planning processes, improve communication and discover the opportunities lurking in its human and physical landscape.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Berry, Daniel (Daniel Kevin)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sam Bass Werner, Jr.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37663

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37663