A Changing DetroitHow the automobile helped kill the Motor City as we know it

A paper submitted to

Professor Lapo Salucci

University of Colorado

In Partial Fulfillment

For the Course

PSCI 3071: Urban Politics

By

Chris Yonushewski

April 9, 2010

1

Executive Summary

Detroit is currently at an impasse. It is in desperate need to people to return to the city in order for it to be successful, but only quality and innovative places will bring people back to Detroit. As of right now a minor US city of roughly 900,000 citizens, one third of which do not own a vehicle, are spread across more than 139 square miles. This population of citizens is crippled by the lack of integrated public transportation in Detroit. Neighborhoods are cut off from one another simply because the buses can’t afford to run between them. Downtown Detroit, the hub of Michigan’s economy, has evolved into a metropolitan ghost town in recent years due to the success of suburban sprawl through highway usage and the loss of population. If this trend continues, one where barely used highways still receive more attention that vital bus routes in and out of the city, then Detroit will continue to be the epitome of Rustbelt cities in America, slowly inching towards obsolescence.

However this is hope for the aging Motor City. By developing an integrated and quality public transportation system many believe that Detroit can begin to redefine itself. Implementing better public transit across the Detroit Metro area, coupled with creating quality spaces downtown and in the neighborhoods, will cut city costs, bring the return of the middle class to Detroit, and help restart the cities ailing economic engine. The first steps towards achieving Detroit’s goal of being a modern city in the 21st century are centered on redeveloping the original main corridor roads that lead in and out of the city. By revitalizing these roads Detroiters can start to step back from a failing highway system, and into a more concentrated community of a city center and neighborhoods. Implementing a system that uses light rail, a metro, or rapid transit electric buses along these corridors will increase the importance these forgotten corridors are to Detroit, but will also help change the Motor City’s image to that of a green one. This being said Detroit cannot depend on a public transit system to solve all of its problems, and it should be used as a springboard to tackle other issues such as, consolidation of regional neighborhoods, investiture of new industries in the city, retaining a quality population and maintain population density, and defining quality spaces of habitation, but downtown and in the suburbs. Beginning with public transit, Detroit can step away from being a Rustbelt sad story to being the success story of the new Midwest.

Specifically

Detroit needs to:

Create hi-speed, integrated public transit along the major roads of: Woodward, Jefferson, Grand River, Gratroit, Fort, and Michigan Avenues.

Consolidate neighborhoods through the relocation citizens and removal of blighted property, specifically to the North.

Promote itself to gain new industries, ideally the green manufacturing and urban agriculture industries.

Redefine the city as too attract a middle and creative class to stimulate business and economic activity in Detroit.

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Detroit Today

The American Motor City is much like many Rustbelt cities across America. Having built up a vibrant downtown with office buildings, department stores, shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues for all, many looked at Detroit as America’s future during the 1920’s thru the 1950’s. Due to the boom of the automobile industry during the early 1920’s, Detroit became a Silicon Valley for engineers and labor workers across North America. But as time passed things change, and due to the emergence of suburban sprawl, white flight out of cities, the divestiture of urban retail, and the explosive growth of the automobile lead to a gradual emptying of people from Detroit. A prime example of such flight would be that of J.L. Hudson’s Department Store, a downtown store of twelve stories that was commonly likened to Macy’s in New York City. But in 1964 the store closed down and moved out to a mall complex in the suburbs, complete with parking for more than 10,000 cars (PBS.org). Years have passed and just recently the

shuttered Hudson’s Department Store building located downtown was torn down. Shifting from an all time high population of 1.8 million to that of 933,043 has made Detroit a modern ghost town of sorts (PBS.org). Downtown skyscrapers are empty and waiting to be leased out while street level retail is nonexistent. Public transit is in a stall, reducing service and cutting lines as recent as 2008 (smartbus.org). Neighborhoods, once filled with row houses and single family dwellings, are now desolated, with certain sections looking more like prairie than an urban suburb. Due to the massive loss of population,

Detroit has been put under serious strain to provide quality public services like education, transportation, utilities, and infrastructure maintenance. This distress is partially due to an unequal and inefficient distribution of residency across the Detroit Metro area. Currently there are pockets of neighborhoods, stringed along former major roads that weren’t disrupted by the highway system. Furthermore, after years of demographic and class shifting has made Detroit a heavily racially segregated city.

In order to create a fully functioning city center with neighborhoods there has to be a functional and connected transit system. The creation of this transit system is highly dependent on: creating places of importance with defined space in the city, creating denser clusters of residential neighborhoods, attaching uses to forgotten space in the city, breaking away from the importance of highways as the main form of citizen travel, and integrating current transit highlights into a new structure.

Current Transit Infrastructure

The current transit system in Detroit is dominated by the car, and moreover the highway system. Having been the first city to champion the Interstate highway, Detroit has done away with much of their

Source: Detroit Homes Guide

3

city road structure in place of a sprawling highways going out to the suburbs. With the opening of those highways, Detroit’s critical mass of population shifted away from the city. Overtime jobs shifted away from the city and suburbs and so too did the people of Detroit. Today, the same roads that were used before handle far less traffic, both in the city and outside of it. Combine this with 33% of the Detroit city population not owning cars, this leaves roads empty and mass transit left to pick up the slack (PBS.org). However, this gap of transit cannot be covered as the system remains today. Currently more than 80% of transit funds are allocated towards the maintenance and upkeep of roads. This inadequate distribution of funds is holding back the possibility of public transits’ ability in for Detroit and its neighborhoods.

Today there are four separate forms of public transit made available in Detroit, and none of them are connected. The first, and most prevalent, is the regional bus system, also known as SMART. This

system, which also includes the bus systems in Dearborn, Troy, Ann Arbor, and Pontiac, has a bare bones operation for Detroit’s downtown. Despite extensive operations along the corridor routes out of the city, Detroit has less than 20 different routes in the core city. This may seem well enough, but considering that almost all of these 20 routes only operate on 5

different roads and it is clear that much of the city is left without adequate transit. These routes lack the ability to cover such a large metro area, which forced the emergence of private community buses. For example the North End neighborhood in Detroit only has one bus line coming into town, and this bus leaves once at 7am, and returns at 3pm (PBS.org). Aside from that people are stuck in the community, one which lacks groceries, farmers markets, hospitals, and other necessary components

Source: www.smartbus.org

“We are generations

behind getting people out of their cars and into a different

infrastructure” – Robin Boyle, Professor of

Urban Policy at Wayne State

University

“We basically

don’t even have

transportation here

[North End]” –

Dan

Source: www.PBS.org

Source: www.PBS.org

4

of a functioning neighborhood. To deal with this problem the Vanguard Community Center has instituted the North End Transit (NET), a privately funded bus to help citizens move around their community (PBS.org).

Secondly, the People Mover, is the most iconic of the public transit options in Detroit but sadly the most ineffective. Designed to be part of a larger transit network, the People Mover project never reached full potential and has become a small loop, operating around the core downtown (PBS.org). The loop is only three miles around and has thirteen stops, all within the downtown core (Peoplemover.com). Notice how both Ford Field and Comerica Park, major attractions in Detroit, are removed from any public transit routes. Though this cog in Detroit’s urban transit was visionary, its impact is far less. As a loop, the People Mover is stuck downtown and has no direct means of connecting with other transit lines. Furthermore, covering only one sector of Detroit’s downtown core is inefficient to use the People Mover as a means to move around the city center. Today the People Mover is mainly used by the small

population living nearby and regional tourists.

Finally, the third, and most aspiring, is the M-1 light rail transit over a 2.7 mile stretch of Woodward Ave. Though this isn’t up and running yet, the M-1 is scheduled to begin construction later this year and is a new glimmer of hope towards creating an integrated transit system. This 2.7 mile stretch goes through a vital part of Detroit’s downtown, from Hart Plaza to Grand Avenue along Woodward Avenue, essentially taking the first step on the most important road in Detroit. By design, applying this light rail will allow bus routes to flow to other parts of the city, specifically streets connected to Woodward Ave. Ideally, Matt Cullen, proponent of the M-1, would like to see light rail become the norm for Woodward, extend from the core of downtown up through the suburb of Pontiac (PBS.org). Beyond Detroit there is a separate initiative to create a commuter rail line that connects Dearborn Metro Airport to downtown Detroit using existing Amtrak lines (Detroittransit.org). Although it will not be used for daily service, this line will be open for event service as soon as October of 2010.

City Comparison Perspective – Public Transportation

Denver, which has a much smaller downtown area of coverage, operates more than 32 transit lines within their downtown limits. Of those 32 transit lines 5 are light rail with more than 30 stations. Denver, despite having a smaller downtown area does boast a metro area population of more than 2.5 million (DenverMetro.org). Conversely, Detroit has a metro area close to 139 square miles and has a population close to 900,000. Due to lack of density, Detroit may struggle with

Source: Rutgers University

“We basically

don’t even have

transportation here

[North End]” –

Dan

Source: www.PBS.org

5

implementing such a sweeping public transit system, but by no means does make public transit impossible for Detroit. Furthermore, I would argue that by implementing an integrated and efficient public transit system Detroit can rebuild their downtown and bring people back into the city. By taking this step Detroit has one foot in door towards using an efficient public transit system as a jumping point towards recreating itself.

What We Can Do Now - Public Transportation

The key for redeveloping Detroit’s public transportation is to design the infrastructure for the benefit of the people and not their cars. For far too long Detroit’s city design has put the car ahead of people, in turn destroying city blocks and senses of place, most notably the old Michigan Theater.

Shifting the city’s design to benefit people means developing public transit that has an integrated approach, essentially a way of using different routes and lines, to get a person from door to door without the use of a car or much walking. This means a surge in the importance of connecting commuter lines to other Michigan cities and the Canadian city of Windsor across the Lake Erie. The usage of hi-speed rail, either as commuter lines or national lines, has great advantages over

commuter air travel. Simply put, electric powered hi-speed trains can carry eight times the amount of passengers for same fuel cost with 25% less emissions than planes (PBS.org). This cost savings can seriously build upon itself, stimulating an era of travel reoriented back to the train. Already Detroit has an idea of this as defined by the Dearborn Metro Airport line. But going further, integrating Detroit’s transit means that the historical main roads leading out of the city; Woodward Avenue, Grand River Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Gratiot Avenue, Fort Street, and Jefferson Avenue, all need to incorporate some form of rapid transit. “Detroit was always a city of corridors, of long straight avenues going off

Source: Downtown Detroit Partnership

Source: www.PBS.org

6

into space. Now these corridors, I think will become again the basic connecting tissue of the city” (Robert Kishman, PBS.org).

This rapid transit could be in the form of a subway, an electric bus system, or ideally that of light rail. Considering that each of these main roads stretches well beyond downtown Detroit and extends into the neighborhoods and suburbs it would be important to maintain a quick form of easily accessible transit to cover such a large swatch of land. Drilling down further, the creation of neighborhood and downtown local bus lines are important to move people around places of importance. It does Detroit no good to create quality commuter rail lines if the suburb workers can’t get around town once they are here. The expansion of the People Mover would also do this, but less efficiently. The People Mover’s ideal place in the future public transit infrastructure would be serving the immediate movement of tourists, workers on their lunch breaks, and students around a specific sector of downtown. If the light rail and commuter rail are the arteries of the city then these local lines act as the capillaries to fill the gaps. By following this hierarchy of public transit, Detroit can stitch itself together, and bring back vitality to major roadways in and out of the city, like it had in the early 20th century. “It is along these routes we have got the opportunity for the Detroit of tomorrow the clusters of density, where the churches are, where some of the schools are located, the remnants of retail. If we can capture what they got, build on them, and then start to connect them along these radial routes, then I think we’ve got a future for tomorrow and Detroit.” (Robin Boyle, PBS.org).

What Can We Do Now – Define Space

One of the greatest challenges for many Midwest cities and sprawling suburbs is to define meaningful space for their citizens. The importance of this relates to the importance of the public realm in cities. The public realm is the dwelling place of civic life and is the manifestation of a city’s common good for their citizens (Kunstler, TED.com). Furthermore, it informs the citizens not only of where they are in the city, but the culture and values of that city (Kunstler, TED.com). To quote James Kunstler, “If you degrade the public realm then you automatically degrade the quality of your civic life.” (TED.com).

Undoing the damage that car oriented design this is critical for major cities today. Employing quality civic design to create meaningful space through use of landscape and architecture has been a fundamental part of urban planning for hundreds of years. Especially for Detroit, whose population has plunged and left the city barren in places, there needs to be a redefinition of quality space. Already there have been some projects towards that, most notably the RiverWalk. The RiverWalk is located near the heart of the city,

just west of the GM headquarters on the Michigan River. Looking at this space less than ten years ago and it was an industrial wasteland. Beginning in 2004, the RiverWalk Redevelopment

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consisted of cleaning up industrial dumping in the Michigan River, remodeling of the urban space along the river, and the creation of several walking plazas, parks, restaurants, and other pivotal components of public space (Sternberg). The result has thus far been good and expansion phases are set to finish by 2010. The RiverWalk has become one of the jewels of downtown Detroit, making the city and more beautiful and cleaner place to be. Since phase one completion in 2007 there have been several attractions to the RiverWalk, most notably River Days, a festival held right on the water (DowntownPartnership.com). It is important for Detroit to continue to support the creation of quality space as that is a major contributor towards why people live where they do, and Detroit desperately needs people.

What Can We Do Now – Create Importance & Usage

Similar to the problem of defining space, Detroit needs to find a usage for all of the empty space it has. According to John Hantz, CEO of Hantz Group, close to 40% of the land in Detroit has gone fowl, meaning that where there once were neighborhoods, stores, and streets there are now open fields, prairie, and forgotten land (PBS.org). This land needs to be put to good use for two reasons. First, the empty space is creating a sense of disunity throughout Detroit. Once vibrant neighborhoods fifty years ago are now scattered across several blocks, essentially isolating houses and citizens. Furthermore, it costs Detroit far too much to maintain this scattered and diffused neighborhood setup. If only one home is on a block it still needs access to utilities and public services provided for by the city. These services used to be covered by a much more populated and dense neighborhood, but it still costs the same with only one tenant. This creates a burden for the city and county. Second, this land is currently an untapped resource for Detroit. With land available so cheaply and on such a large scale in an urban area, it is the perfect setting for the infancy of modern urban agriculture. Already innovative businesses like Hantz Farms are bringing green jobs and capital to Detroit (Hantz Farms). “Hantz Farms will transform this area into a viable, beautiful and sustainable area that will serve the community, increase the tax base, create jobs and greatly improve the quality of life in an area that has experienced a severe decline in population.” (Hantz Group) Such a use of land would greatly improve the city as it revitalizes a sense of purpose for many neighborhoods. Also, Detroit can take on a new industry, shifting away from such heavy concentration in manufacturing while diversifying and rebuilding their labor force. But what about all of the old factories and office parks, what use are they? A common feeling in America is that manufacturing has gone the way of the dodo, either due to increased sophistication of technology or outsourcing. However, new industries such as green technology, healthcare services, and transportation production all require a local and skilled labor force. There is no

“Detroit could be

the nation’s leading

example of urban

farming” – John

Hantz, CEO of Hantz

Group

Source: Hantz Group

“We have to think of new

uses for those properties left

behind to eliminate the

blight” – Doug Diggs, Director of

City Planning

Source: Detroit Free Press

8

reason why old manufacturing plants can’t be retrofitted to assemble wind turbines or solar panels. There is no reason why old automobile parks cannot become places of assembly, research, development, and investiture for the new transportation of the future, whether that is greener cars or new modes of public transportation. Adding just one of these growing sectors to Detroit’s arsenal will help spur the service economy to come back into the city, and further help pull Detroit out of this Rustbelt despair.

What Can We Do Now – Redefine Neighborhoods

However, looking at Detroit’s residential layout as it currently is, reviving the city by only the way of public transportation is economically impossible. The answer as to why is simple: there are too few people across too much space. According to housing expert Alan Mallach, “Detroit needs no more than about

50 square miles of its land for its current population. The remaining 89 square miles could be used entirely for other purposes.” (Gallagher). Looking at the cost and benefits of providing a sweeping transit system to a scattered residency, it is clear that Detroit would only hurt itself. That is why, for the betterment of the city, its citizens, and Detroit’s future, there needs to be a consolidation of residents. This does not mean that all Detroiters need to flock to the city and start leasing an apartment, but it does mean that residents need to reclaim and redefine their neighborhoods. This needs to happen through two actions: removal of abandoned and forgotten structures and the consolidation of scattered neighbors. As much of a problem that empty lots are, decrepit and condemned structures are even worse. Throughout much of the Rustbelt many houses have been left to die a slow death, creating an undue problem for the rest of the community. The structures lower the property values of the neighborhood and create communities that do not seem friendly. Steps have been taken to rid Detroit’s neighborhoods of their forgotten homes, but only on the community and grassroots level. Motor City Blight Busters, a neighborhood group led by Mr. John George, have taken it upon themselves to remove or repair many aging homes in their community (PBS.org). But efforts like these can only go so far, there needs to be a transition of power to the city and county to help alleviate many blighted

“We’re looking at a city that’s over

50% vacant within the next

five to ten years. It’s a huge, huge issue.” – Ashley

Atkinson, Urban Agriculture

Project Developer

Source: Detroit Free Press

An example of the isolated and spread out neighborhoods that comprise Detroit. More than 14 separate communities are pictured here, but many are separated by miles of vacant lots and empty industrial blocks.

Map Source: Metro Mode Media

Source: www.URA.org

Source: www.URA.org

Source: www.southsidepgh.com

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Clean, Safe, Green Design Neighbors &

EconomyImage & Identity

Sustainable Organization

blocks of Detroit. However, even if all the blights on the community have been removed there still exist residents who have stayed loyal to their homes, but have created a problem for the city of Detroit. As mentioned previously single homes and city blocks are terribly inefficient for the city to provide services for, and in many cases it is hard for the resident to live so secluded. These residents are all that are left from former neighborhoods, and unfortunately stand in the way of redefined urban neighborhoods. The city needs to relocate these residents in a way that is beneficial not only to those moved, but to those in the communities they are moved to. Possibly through actions of eminent domain, despite its bad connotation, the city can consolidate residents and improve residential life in Detroit. “The city is now depleted of people, so you got a lot of area that is empty, but if the bus is still moving from this to this, then it’s moving through an area where nobody lives. So until the time we find a way to take this city and nest it into a smaller thing, we’ve got huge problems.” (Dan Williams Jr, PBS.org.) Once denser collections of residents exist then quality transportation can be put into place and people’s mobility and standard of living will increase. Furthermore a sense of community will be renewed for Detroit, making citizens care more for their city and surroundings. All in all, despite relocation being the ugliest of fixes for the residents of Detroit it is a necessary part of the wide-scale plan to redevelop and better the city.

City Comparison Perspective – Reviving Neighborhoods

Pittsburgh, which has gone through the struggles of a decreasing population and a decline in the manufacturing sector, has made great strides to redefine their neighborhoods. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in Pittsburgh has been working for more than 60 years clearing decrepit homes and cleaning up riverfront lands from old industry. Even to this day the URA is working towards creating vibrant city centers that have defined space and quality for their citizens. Currently a remodeling of Market Square, a public space in the city, is the latest project aimed towards the beautification of the city (URA.org). Looking at the Southside of Pittsburgh, long known as an industrial center, neighborhoods are stepping up and looking out for their own future benefits. One means of doing so was for several neighborhoods to ban together and form “Elm Street Communities” (Southsidepgh.com). Aside from

providing quality services to their residents (check online at), the Elm Street Communities follow a modern five point approach towards solving neighborhood needs (Southsidepgh.com).

These are all aspects of defining a quality community that Detroit can take and apply to itself. Through

this hard work Pittsburgh,

“Transportation is key to equity

for people…mobility is linked

to freedom” – Lee Gaddies,

Public Transit Advocate

Source: www.PBS.org

“First, Detroit needs to plant the seeds of a

new economy. Second, the city can

no longer afford itself. In place of the old must come a new leaner city.” – The

Economist

10

despite being a classic Rustbelt city, has seemed to shed its old image of Steel City and moved on to a dynamic city open to a new industry. There is no reason that the Motor City cannot make similar adjustments to stay vibrant in America today.

What Does This Create

Overall, implementing an efficient and integrated public transportation system is essential for the continued prosperity of Detroit. By creating such a system Detroit will have an increase in population and population density, in both urban high rise residential sectors and through the connected urban neighborhoods. Specifically the people coming back will be the middle class, looking for a functional and dynamic city to settle a family in. This creative class has disposable income and a passion for innovation and creativity. Also, looking to live in a dynamic and changing city, young people will begin to see Detroit as a redefined city of the Midwest and not a place of a bygone era. In turn, this will increase the city’s economic activity through the growth of small businesses, large business investments, and a revival of the urban service economy. Also, by moving people efficiently around the city and the creation of quality space in the city there will be vibrant public realms, specifically downtown. Creating these spaces will continue to bring in quality people, businesses, and ideas. Shifting focus from the car and highway system to one of integrated public transit will be

economically beneficial in the long run and will end the wasted funds on highway repairs and maintenance, as well as the wasted space and money spent on parking. Also, creating a widely used mass public transit system will mean more citizen interaction on a personal level, possibly helping to quell racial tension that has plagued the city for too long. All in all, by way of public transit Detroit can redefine its city as a quality space, and automatically define its citizen’s lives as well spent too.

The First Steps

Currently Detroit is making strides towards implementing public transit and redevelopment to better itself. The examples of the M-1, Dearborn Metro Airport commuter line, and the Riverfront are all in line to help Detroit redefine itself. The next step in line for public transit is to begin planning the expansion of light rail to the other five main roads leading in and out of Detroit. Doing this will let people transfer between the city and suburbs easily, and allow bus operations to return to neighborhoods. Specifically, there needs to be routes emanating from the center of downtown, near the GM headquarters,

Source: The Economist

“To sustain their [city’s] health there

has to be more

infrastructure” – Lorlene

Hoyt, Professor of

Urban Planning at

Source: Urban Issues

11

out to the surrounding suburbs. As if spreading out Detroit’s fingers, these main corridors stretch out and connect the center of the city with the periphery.

Fort Street should run through to Trenton and other Southern neighborhoods.

Michigan Avenue should run straight into the heart of Wayne County.

Grand River should run through into the center of the suburb of Farmington.

Woodward Avenue should be extended to connect Detroit to the major suburbs of Pontiac and Birmingham.

Gratroit should link the medical complexes in the suburb of Clinton to Detroit.

Jefferson Avenue will follow the Detroit River north into Grosse Point, St. Clair and Harrison neighborhoods.

Funding for this should be raised through several means, including: tax revenue, city transit

budget, counties transit budget, federal transit budget, and through private-public partnerships. Much like when private-public partnerships were used to create the original American rail system, using this tool for securing funds will provide light rail for the masses and attract businesses to the areas surrounding stops simultaneously. Ideally, by building up these corridors Detroit can attract the same style of development it did during the automobile boom.

Conclusion

The basics of the plan for the redevelopment of Detroit all hinge on the development of an efficient, integrated, and quality public transit system. Implementing a hierarchal system of hard rail, light rail, metros, buses, and the People Mover is the first step towards bringing back quality people, businesses, industry, and space to Detroit. Beginning with the creation of the main corridor light rails, Detroit will begin a long term shift from being the poster child of Rustbelt depression to a gleaming beacon for the future of major cities in America. Not only will Detroit reap immediate benefits of better transit, but revitalizing the city will secure its place for future generations.

Perhaps there is some poetic irony that Detroit: the Motor City, mass production center for the car and champion of the highway system, is dying due to the over-usage of the car to spread away from cities, leaving Detroit in the dust. But out of this dust a new Detroit can be born, a Detroit that will return to its old days of glory by embracing a changing urban landscape that places importance on public transit, new technologies, and recreating places worth caring about.

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“To sustain their [city’s] health there

has to be more

infrastructure” – Lorlene

Hoyt, Professor of

Urban Planning at

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