Mini Ranches

Here is an excerpt from an article in the Christian Science Monitor about the next step in the shrinking of detroit.

The challenge to Detroit stems from the fact that its population has been shrinking – and continues to shrink. During the auto industry's golden years, the city boasted nearly 2 million people. Now the population is not even half that. Bing says the 2010 census will show about 800,000 to 850,000 residents, but the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments says the city is sparser, estimating the remaining population at below 775,000.

Outmigration over the past half century has left Detroit pockmarked with empty land, about 50 miles' worth, or about one-third of the city's total area. About 78,000 vacant homes, or 27 of the total, are within city limits, officials estimate. About 1,700 abandoned homes were razed last year as part of an antiblight initiative. Another 1,300 are expected to be demolished by March.
The consolidation projects are “unprecedented” in the US in their scale and ambition, says Margaret Dewar, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan. “The key is how to make it happen so people are treated fairly, have choices, and have a say,” she says.



Despite the acres of blight, some residents living far from the city center have bought up their neighbors' properties and expanded them into mini ranches. “They’ve made their own place a more  comfortable place to live and they are caring for the property, which is positive for the city,” says Ms. Dewar.
For these outlying residents, Dewar says, some city services, such as water and sewer, may remain, but other services, such as streetscaping or weekly garbage pickup, may be changed or eliminated.

Dewar says the city is being led by an administration that is finally grasping its plight, a crucial first step to real change. “At long last in Detroit, the attention is turning to the realization we’re not going to fill the place up again with development,” she says.