Detroit: Mapping a New Narrative

Abstract

This thesis identifies the attractors of Detroit’s growth and divulges into the cultural, federal, socio-economic and urban deterrents that have afflicted Detroit for the past fifty years. It probes the city of Detroit and exposes a hyper-segregated city that has been destroyed by a self-feeding cycle of nomadic behaviour and a speculative culture of endless opportunities.

To initiate change this thesis examines real alternatives that are not defined for the citizens of Detroit, but are created by them. It is a self-organizing grassroots approach that applies pressure on the city to rethink its conventional methods of urban revitalization. Utilizing the city’s large inventory of vacant land, abandoned buildings and neighbourhood schools, an alternative design methodology is logically applied to atomize, consolidate, fortify and envisage a new Detroit; one where residents can remain sufficiently abreast of the social and economic problems that consistently challenge them.