City of Worth

Hoback, Alan S.

Abstract:

This paper describes applied research that continues Prof. Constance Bodurow’s previous peer reviewed and disseminated research: + D IND DEV: Industrial Spatial Logic and the Transformation of the City. In that work, Bodurow documents the distinct spatial logic to North American industrial development, driven primarily by the location of infrastructure, which expresses itself legibly within the City over time. Through research, graphic documentation, and analysis of the industrial spatial logic and development history of infrastructure and industry in Regional Detroit (focusing on places of “making” and the infrastructure that serves them and the uses that cluster around them), Bodurow’s research identifi es the progression of land use in the City over 150 years and suggests strategies for future regeneration. By focusing on the areas of the city that are not only transforming in the post-industrial era, but are still inhabited, Bodurow proposes a new regeneration strategy. This new strategy is based on the spatial and infrastructure analysis but more “Value Densifi cation” is Bodurow’s own term and recommended approach for future urban form and investment in Detroit (and other post-industrial Cities), focusing on the few neighborhoods where inhabitation, infrastructure, cultural, and employment assets are in evidence. The Value Densifi cation Community Pilot Project (VDCpp) engages Southwest Detroit, with the support of the community, as the fi rst and most promising of these neighborhoods, creates a digital model that vividly reveals its assets and density, empowers the community at a critical moment to direct its future, prompts a civic dialogue, expands existing partnerships, and creates rich pedagogic opportunities.

Link to full paper

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