"RIGHT SIZING"

There has been more and more news lately it seems on the intended transformation of Detroit from it's current state to a "Utopian" city of the future with urban farms, sustainable resources and forward thinking residents. A recent article in the New York Times proclaimed that Detroit was "back on track". However the article was speaking of General Motors; not the city itself. Therein lies one of Detroit's problems that it is irrevocably linked to the failures and successes of the auto industry. Detroit often is used as a symbol for the Big Three auto makers and as a result media coverage can mistake the city for the industry that built it.

The question, as raised in a recent article in the "Next American City" is will this media coverage benefit Detroit in the long run or will messages that Detroit is "back on track" create a collective fatigue where people move on to another issue. NGO's often encounter this with disasters, especially those that closely follow other natural events; known as "donor fatigue". The changes that are required in Detroit are something that requires focus and stamina and very long term commitment.

Right now, the vision for Detroit’s future is myopic, not necessarily in intent, but in scope. Converting abandoned neighborhoods into farmland could actually be an economic and social boon, but without being presented as part of a larger vision for the city, it’s easy for such a plan to sound like a massive step backward, or even a waving of the white flag of surrender. But contrast the image of today’s Detroit with one where a network of compact neighborhoods stretches out between large agricultural tracts, and parents walk their kids to neighborhood schools in the morning on their way to the trains that take them to the hydroponic greenhouses where they work. Americans seem to have a fixed idea of urban fabric as looking something like a quilt, but there’s no reason it can’t look like a web instead.

If there is the political will and the financial might in Detroit to privately fund a light rail line (which would take a miracle in almost any American city, much less one with Motown’s reputation), there should certainly be enough energy to create a broad, forward-thinking vision for the region to tie various initiatives together into a narrative that the whole city can rally behind.  Detroit has everyone’s attention; now it’s time for the city to decide what story it’s going to tell.