Abstract:
These design methods propose a potential future for growing Detroit communities.
Detroit exists in a very complex state of urbanity. The centrality on industry during
the development of the automotive boom structured the cultural attitude and the
physical infrastructure of the city. It is evident by its vastness of tangled highways
and lack of intention toward public transportation. In this case, the highway
infrastructure severs the fabric of a once connected community. This study examines
the toll of the “top-down” urban development and responds with approaches
of placemaking strategies for community amenities. This form of community
development will attempt to re-establish placemaking in the context of the focus
area. It is done by using placemaking as a tool to create an infrastructure of networks
throughout urban blight and creating remediation for renewal of community
development. There are several typologies which designers can use in these
neighborhoods despite the limitations that are given. They act as ways to re-enforce
existing communities’ groups in their neighborhoods as a response to the many
policies that prevent community self-governance.
