2012 Detroit Strategic Framework Plan: Detroit Future City

After reading the entire 347 page Detroit Future City Report, I thought it useful to provide this brief outline.  My goal here is to give the reader a quick overview of the report and to encourage more detailed reading where interests are peaked.  The report is filled with fascinating facts and detailed strategies.  Below are just the broad brush strokes of a more detailed and colorful painting.

What are the Assets Detroit can build upon?

• A Top 20 Largest US City
• Home to 714,000 Residents
• Contains Global Economic Assets (intermodal border crossings and industrial infrastructure)
• Known globally for its ingenuity and "making things" innovatively
• Committed, Proactive Community-based and Philanthropic Organizations
• Land-Rich Environment
• Michigan's Leading Urban Center

Why there needs to be a new way of looking at the problem?

• Safety, Education, Health and Prosperity - Detroit needs to be safe, have better educated youth and adults, provide healthier living environments, offer access to jobs that pay at least a living wage
• Detroit's population - 700,000 live in a city built for 3 million
• Detroit's unemployment - There is only 1 job for every 4 Detroit residents
• Detroit's land vacancy and land use - 20 square miles of vacant land (equal to the size of Manhattan)
• Detroit's City Service Delivery Systems - Tax base doesn't meet service needs

By using the framework, what can be accomplished by 2030?

• A stable population between 600,000 and 800,000
• Instead of 27 jobs for every 100 city residents, 50 for every 100
• An integrated regional public transportation system
• Detroit will lead the world in developing landscape as infrastructure (ex. carbon forest that clean air, stormwater management landscapes that collect, treat and recycle water)

What does the Framework do?

"... guides decision making among individuals, institutions, businesses, organizations, and neighborhoods towards a future city, which is culturally rich and offers opportunities for all Detroit's residents, institutions, businesses, and neighborhoods." (page 17)

"...is not a static, traditional "plan," but rather a living and growing structure for change, and a guide to decision making." (page 335)

The Five Planning Elements

1. The Economic Growth Element: THE EQUITABLE CITY

Employment Districts

The Goals

• Build upon Four Economic Growth Pillars:
• Local Entrepreneurship
• Education and Medical
• Industrial, Digital/Creative
• Create Seven employment districts:
• Downtown (digital/creative)
• Mid-Town (education, medical, digital/creative)
• Dequindre/Eastern Market (industrial and creative)
• Southwest (industrial)
• Mount Elliot (industrial)
• McNichols (education, medical and creative)
• Corktown (industrial and local entrepreneurship)
• Encourage Local Entrepreneurship and Minority Business Ownership
• Improve Workforce Skills with Improved Education
• Synchronize education programs with skills demanded by employers
• Improved Land Regulations
• Land bank commercial/industrial properties so larger parcels can be created 

2. The Land Use Element: THE IMAGE OF THE CITY



The Framework Zones

The Goals

• Create Multiple Employment Districts
• Insure People are Connected to Jobs and Services (ex. regional transit and "complete streets")
• Create Landscapes that contribute to Health (create a new urban form)
• Create Distinct and Attractive Neighborhoods

Implementation Strategies

• Framework Zones - Defines vacancy levels over the entire city
• Land Use Typologies - Divides framework zones into three categories:
• Neighborhood (New-Green Mixed-Rise, Live+Make)
• Industrial
• Landscape (New-innovative productive)
• Development Types - Divides land use typologies into four categories:
• Residential
• Commercial
• Landscape
• Industrial
• Create an open space system for the city (use vacant land as opportunity to create new urban forms.  Link new and existing open spaces)
• Redefine corridors and complete streets (resize under-capacity streets and provide for multiple modes of transit)
• Develop innovative regulatory reform (revise the City's current Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance)

3. The City Systems and Environment Element: THE SUSTAINABLE CITY

Future Public Transit Routes

What Systems?

Waste, Water. Transit, Energy, Lighting, Telecom

The Goals

• Reform Delivery System
• Aligning systems with actual need as defined by framework zones
• Create Landscapes that Work
• Invest in 'blue/green infrastructure', i.e. retention ponds, detention basins, swales, carbon forests, industrial buffers
• Reconfigure Transportation
• Reconfigure under-capacity roads and connect employment centers
• Enhance Communication Access
• Resident, government and commercial access to state-of-the-art high-speed data networks
• Improve Lighting Efficiency
• Solar and LED lights
• Reduce Waste and Increase Recycling
• Expand existing recycling programs
• Actively Manage Change

4. The Neighborhood Element: THE CITY OF DISTINCT AND REGIONALLY COMPETITIVE NEIGHBORHOODS



The 50-Year Land-use Scenario

 

The Goals

• Dramatically Improve Quality of Life for All Detroiters
• Promote a Range of Sustainable Densities across the City

Quality of Life Elements (13) (Metrics which define progress)

• Safety
• Health
• Education
• Prosperity and Income
• Community
• Physical Condition
• Housing
• Public Services
• Mobility
• Environment
• Recreation
• Culture
• Retail Services and Amenities

Residential Neighborhood Types (5):

• Urban Mixed-Use (Ex. Mid-town, New Center, CBD)
• Urban Live+Make (Ex. Eastern Market, Corktown)
• Urban Green (Ex. Warrendale, Lafayette Park, State Fair Ground)
• Traditional Neighborhood (Ex. Boston Edison, East English Village)

How to Select What to Build (Matrix on page 122-123):

1. Refer to Framework zone map (establishes vacancy level)
2. Locate property location and assigned Neighborhood Type
3. Selected a recommended Development Type base on Neighborhood Type 

Implementation Strategies

• Address Quality of Life Challenges that affect all Detroiters
• Create Dense, Walkable, Mixed-Use Neighborhoods (Urban Mixed-Use)
• Regenerate Neighborhoods through Fusion of Art and Industry (Urban Live+Make)
• Repurpose Vacant Land to Create Green Neighborhoods (Urban Green)
• Renew Traditional Neighborhoods
• Utilize Productive Landscapes as the basis for a Sustainable City (Blue/Green infrastructure)

 5. The Land and Buildings Assets Element: A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO PUBLIC LAND




Future Open Space Network

The development of policies and strategies that control the acquisition, disposition, holding, maintenance and demolition of public lands across organizational and institutional boundaries.

12 agencies must coordinate their missions and goals related to the use and reuse of public lands:

• Detroit Land Bank Authority
• City of Detroit Planning and Development
• City of Detroit Planning Commission
• City of Detroit General Services
• Wayne County Treasurer
• Wayne County Land Bank
• Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority
• Detroit Economic Growth Corporation
• Michigan State Housing Development Authority
• Detroit Housing Commission
• Detroit Public Schools
• Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

Tool: Decision Making Matrices

Implementation Strategies

• Target Vacant Public Land and Buildings in Employment Districts for Economic Growth
• Use Vacant Public Land as a Tool for Neighborhood Stabilization
• Transform Largely Vacant Areas Through Blue and Green Infrastructure
• Ex. Create stormwater boulevards and rain gardens
• Link Public Facility and Property Decisions to Larger Strategies
• Ex. Coordinate the consolidation of Detroit Public School and Recreation Department properties
• Incorporate More Innovative Vacant Land Maintenance Approaches
• Ex. Discontinue current policy of mowing all city owned properties
• Use more Aggressive Regulatory Tools
• Enforce new vacant lot ordinance and absentee landlord policies

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

 

An engaged City includes:

• Robust Democratic Participation
• Willing and Committed Investors
• An Atmosphere of Collaboration among Sectors
• A Strong Sense of Place
• Advocates and Implementers

Actions:

• Establish a Detroit Strategic Framework Consortium
• Enlist Additional Champions for Implementation and Policy Reform
• Inform, Educate and Equip Key Stakeholders
• Strengthen and Complement the Public Sector
• Report Back for Transparent and Ongoing Progress

Strategies:

• Expand Capacity for the Long Term: Building on Strengths to Extend Range
• City Government, Philanthropy, Detroit Institutions, Detroit Residents
• Informed, Inclusive Decisions: Developing, and Sharing Knowledge and Information
• Robust and reliable data, open and transparent access to information, integrate engagement with communication efforts, support blending of community and technical expertise
• A Mosaic of Tactics for a Mosaic of People: Diverse Platform of Opportunities to Engage

Detroit Future City: The Statistics

image credit: HuffPost Detroit

I just finished reading Detroit Future City, the most recent product of the Detroit Works Project's long term planning.  Before discussing the report, I'd like to re-state some of the statistics that motivated its creation.  They are startling. They demand our attention.  They scream for a plan of action.  As Detroit declares bankruptcy, the shear size of the problem is revealed in numbers.

But the numbers aren't all negative.  There are definitely assets to strengthen, to grow and to promote.  The positives are just outshone by the depth and overwhelming nature of the negative.  The key to the report is re-fashioning the negatives as opportunities.  Vacant land is seen as an opportunity to invent a new urban form.  Under capacity industries are seen as opportunities to create jobs.  Oversize streets are seen as opportunities to recondition them to accept high-speed buses, bicycles and stormwater treatment.  In the words of the report,

"...Detroit is facing head-on what many other cities are on the cusp of: the need to create more sustainable, resilient civic centers for the new millennium.  The world needs Detroit's example.  The country and the world also need Detroit's success, as a critical American city in the next century global economy." (page 325)

All of the statistic listed below are taken from the 2012 Detroit Strategic Framework Plan. 

The Economic Growth Element: The Equitable City (page 42)

• 61% of employed Detroiters work outside the city
• 21.5% of Detroiters do not have access to a private vehicle
• 70% of Detroit jobs are held by commuters
• There are 27 jobs per 100 Detroit residents
• 20% of Detroit two-year degree holders live in poverty
• 68% of Detroiters without a high school diploma are unemployed or do not participate in the labor force
• 83% of Detroit's potential workforce is African-American
• 12% of the revenue earned by all Detroit firms was earned by African-American owned firms

The Land Use Element: The Image of the City (page 98)

• Detroit has suffered a 61% population loss between 1950-2010
• 20 square miles of Detroit's occupiable land area is vacant
• 22% of Detroit's industrial zoned land is vacant
• 36% of Detroit's commercial parcels are vacant
• The amount of money spent on groceries outside the city could support approximately 583,000 square feet of additional grocery retail space in Detroit
• Detroit contains 6.7 acres of park space per person (National Recreation and Park Association recommends 10 acres of park space per 1000 residents)
• 65% of Detroit's total citywide housing supply is single-family detached
• 66% of the total housing demand in Detroit's greater downtown is for multi-family

The City Systems Element: The Sustainable City (page 160)

• Detroit has suffered a $336 million decline in property tax revenue from 1950-2010 (60% decline)
• 20% of Detroit's potential revenue generating land area is vacant
• The average Detroit household spends 32% of their annual income on transportation
• 27% of Detroit's 3000 miles of public roads are in poor condition
• Only 35,000 of the existing 88,000 street lights work in Detroit
• Buses run at 75% capacity during peak hours.  The national average is 105%
• Detroit's water system operates at 40% of its overall capacity
• Detroit classifies 42 billion gallons of water as 'unaccounted for water'
• Detroit has three times higher rate of children with elevated blood lead levels than the national average
• Detroit has three time higher rate of children with asthma than the national average
• There were 36 combined sewer overflow discharges into the Detroit river in 2011.  All but 5 could have been prevented with a comprehensive citywide blue infrastructure system (pages 186-187)

The Neighborhood Element: The City of Distinct and Regionally Competitive Neighborhoods (page 210)

• $1.5 billion of Detroit resident expenditures are made outside the city each year
• Detroit has the 2nd highest violent crime rate in the U.S.
• Detroit has suffered a 66% loss in median housing sales prices (2006-2010)
• Detroit is ranked last in acres of park space per resident
• 69.1% of Detroiters are obsess or overweight
• Deaths resulting from heart disease in Detroit are 50% higher than the national average
• Detroit has suffered a 60% decline in public schools enrollment from 2001-2010

The Land and Buildings Assets Element: A Strategic Approach to Public Assets (page 272)

• 13,000 Detroit properties were in Wayne county's October 2011 auction
• 50% of all properties from the October 2011 auction reverted back to public ownership
• 45,000 Detroit parcels have been tax foreclosed since 2010
• 98% of all contiguous publicly owned parcels in Detroit are less than one acre in total size
• 46% of Detroit's recreation centers have closed since 2005 (14 out of 30)
• 130 public schools have been closed or converted to charter schools in Detroit since 2005
• 83% of Detroit's vacant parcels are zoned residential

It is from within this context that Detroit must now create a framework for developing its future.