Mobility in Detroit - Living in the Shadows
What was the problem?
While the city of Detroit (and whole southeastern region of Michigan) once had robust rail transit serving the needs of residents and visitors (like Detroit United Railways shown above), the rise of the personal ownership vehicle, the economic decline, disinvestment, population loss from the city, and sprawl have conspired to create a problematic public transit ecosystem within the city. At the same time, the city is building momentum following its bankruptcy, and it is attracting investment - in certain neighborhoods. Others areas, practically touching those garnering interest, are in much rougher shape, yet starkly overlooked by investors and the city. We sought to rethink what mobility means for the residents of those neighborhoods and come up with interventions to make it more accessible.
Process
We studied and combined maps that visualized data such as the transit dependence index (the degree to which residents rely on public transit), grocery store locations with 1 mile walking sheds, poverty stricken households, bus lines with increases or decreases in service frequency, locations and sizes of urban farms and gardens, and "strategic neighborhood" boundaries and demographic info.
Output
We researched and compiled examples of "inverted" forms of mobility from around the world - moving services and products to the people as opposed to the other way around. We then imagined what those could look like utilizing the massive amounts of vacant land in these down trodden Detroit neighborhoods, which we dubbed "shadow communities"
If you're interested in reading the whole document with more details on our project, click here.
