‘De-urbanizing’ Could Be Detroit’s Survival Plan
by Amanda Wills
Published on March 10th, 2010
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The city of Detroit may tear down up to 10,000 abandoned homes to make way for farmland. Photo: Flickr/lessismoreorless
In a plan of reverse urbanization of sorts, Detroit is plowing down its infamous crumbling defunct neighborhoods to make way for greener pastures, literally.
The city is drawing up a radical, wide-scale plan that calls for demolition of abandoned homes to be turned into farmland. About a quarter of the 139-square-mile city would shift from urban to semi-rural, The Associated Press reports.
While the plan applies to the more desolate areas of Detroit, the few residents that still occupy the selected locales will be moved to stronger, more promising neighborhoods.
Detroit officials first tossed around the idea in the 1990s as an economic downturn was just on the horizon. After the recession essentially wiped out a city that largely clung to the skirt of the automotive industry, the once idealistic conception became a real survival plan. Now, a city that was home to nearly 2 million people in the 1950s now has a population of less than half that number.
But while residents are downtrodden at the aspect of completely eliminating neighborhoods, supporters say the demolition of 10,000 homes over the course of three years would make room for more investment into more prosperous communities.
The massive undertaking will require millions of federal dollars to properly relocate residents and essentially uproot the city. Last month, Detroit was awarded $40.8 million for renewal work, and the plan is supported by the federally funded Detroit Housing Commission.
The removal of homes in an effort to revive the city began last year when Wayne County unveiled its plan to deconstruct the dilapidated homes and recycle the materials. As opposed to tearing down a building in one fail swoop, the deconstruction process takes longer because each piece of the home is removed in order to preserve its value. While the process may be more expensive, it’s a viable way of recovering usable materials instead of sending them to a landfill.
One option for donation of the materials is Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores program, which has found a way to keep thousands of tons of surplus construction materials out of the waste stream while also raising money for home building. ReStores sell salvaged building supplies and appliances across the U.S. and Canada.
It’s unclear whether or not the more costly, yet environmentally friendly, deconstruction process will be used if the city chooses to carry out the proposed plan.
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