Mapping Detroit: Land, Community, and Shaping a City (Great Lakes Books Series)

One of Detroit's most defining modern characteristics-and most pressing dilemmas-is its huge amount of neglected and vacant land. In Mapping Detroit: Land, Community, and Shaping a City, editors June Manning Thomas and Henco Bekkering use chapters based on a variety of maps to shed light on how Detroit moved from frontier fort to thriving industrial metropolis to today's high-vacancy city. With contributors ranging from a map archivist and a historian to architects, urban designers, and urban planners, Mapping Detroit brings a unique perspective to the historical causes, contemporary effects, and potential future of Detroit's transformed landscape. To show how Detroit arrived in its present condition, contributors in part 1, Evolving Detroit: Past to Present, trace the city's beginnings as an agricultural, military, and trade outpost and map both its depopulation and attempts at redevelopment. In part 2, Portions of the City, contributors delve into particular land-related systems and neighborhood characteristics that encouraged modern social and economic changes. Part 2 continues by offering case studies of two city neighborhoods-the Brightmoor area and Southwest Detroit-that are struggling to adapt to changing landscapes. In part 3, Understanding Contemporary Space and Potential, contributors consider both the city's ecological assets and its sociological fragmentation to add dimension to the current understanding of its emptiness. The volume's epilogue offers a synopsis of the major points of the 2012 Detroit Future City report, the city's own strategic blueprint for future land use. Mapping Detroit explores not only what happens when a large city loses its main industrial purpose and a major portion of its population but also what future might result from such upheaval. Containing some of the leading voices on Detroit's history and future, Mapping Detroit will be informative reading for anyone interested in urban studies, geography, and recent American history. One of Detroit's most defining modern characteristics-and most pressing dilemmas-is its huge amount of neglected and vacant land. In editors June Manning Thomas and Henco Bekkering use chapters based on a variety of maps to shed light on how Detroit moved from frontier fort to thriving industrial metropolis to today's high-vacancy city. With contributors ranging from a map archivist and a historian to architects, urban designers, and urban planners, brings a unique perspective to the historical causes, contemporary effects, and potential future of Detroit's transformed landscape.To show how Detroit arrived in its present condition, contributors in part 1, Evolving Detroit: Past to Present, trace the city's beginnings as an agricultural, military, and trade outpost and map both its depopulation and attempts at redevelopment. In part 2, Portions of the City, contributors delve into particular land-related systems and neighborhood characteristics that encouraged modern social and economic changes. Part 2 continues by offering case studies of two city neighborhoods-the Brightmoor area and Southwest Detroit-that are struggling to adapt to changing landscapes. In part 3, Understanding Contemporary Space and Potential, contributors consider both the city's ecological assets and its sociological fragmentation to add dimension to the current understanding of its emptiness. The volume's epilogue offers a synopsis of the major points of the 2012 report, the city's own strategic blueprint for future land use.__Mapping Detroit____Mapping Detroit__ One Of Detriot's Most Defining Modern Characteristics--and Most Pressing Dilemmas--is Its Huge Amount Of Neglected And Vacant Land. In Mapping Detroit, Editors June Manning Thomas And Henco Bekkering Illustrate How Detroit Moved From Frontier Fort To Thriving Industrial Metropolis To Today's High-vacancy City. It Offers A Unique Perspective To The Historical Causes, Contemporary Effects, And Potential Future Of Detroit's Transformed Landscape. Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction: Land And Change In Detroit / June Manning Thomas And Henco Bekkering -- 1. Charting The Shape Of Early Detroit: 1701-1838 / Brian Leigh Dunnigan -- 2. Mapping Detroit: The City Of Holes / Henco Bekkering And Yanjia Liu -- 3. Redevelopment In Detroit: Spatial Evolution / June Manning Thomas -- 4. Detroit: Linear City / Robert Fishman -- 5. Comparing People And Places With Transportation Accessibility In Metropolitan Detroit / Joe Grengs -- 6. Mapping Delray: Understanding Changes In A Southwest Detroit Community / María Arquero De Alarcón And Larissa Larsen -- 7. Remaking Brightmoor / Margaret Dewar And Robert Linn --- 8. Mappping The Urban Landscape: Revealing The Archipelago / Lars Gräbner -- 9. Redesigning Community With Propinquity: Fragments Of Detroit's Region / June Manning Thomas -- Epilogue: Detroit Future City / Toni L. Griffin And June Manning Thomas. Edited By June Manning Thomas And Henco Bekkering. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents Foreword Preface Introduction: Land and Change in Detroit Part I: Evolving Detroit: Past to Present 1. Charting the Shape of Early Detroit: 1701–1838 2. Mapping Detroit: “The City of Holes” 3. Redevelopment in Detroit: Spatial Evolution Part II: Portions of the City 4. Detroit: Linear City 5. Comparing People and Places with Transportation Accessibility in Metropolitan Detroit 6. Mapping Delray: Understanding Changes in a Southwest Detroit Community 7. Remaking Brightmoor Part III: Understanding Contemporary Space and Potential 8. Mapping the Urban Landscape: Revealing the Archipelago 9. Redesigning Community with Propinquity: Fragments of Detroit’s Region Epilogue: Detroit Future City Contributors Index One of Detroit's most defining modern characteristics-and most pressing dilemmas is its huge amount of neglected and vacant land. In Mapping Detroit, June Manning Thomas and Henco Bekkering use chapters based on a variety of maps to shed light on how Detroit moved from frontier fort to thriving industrial metropolis to today's high-vacancy city.