All Road Leads to Detroit_Undergraduate Thesis Book

ALL ROADS LEAD TO DETROIT

Contents

Thesis Advisers:

Andrew Yu, Wentao Liu

David Shanks, Yutaka Sho, Nina Sharifi

(1) Introduction

American Infrastructure: An Overview

Shortcomings

Juxtapositions

(2) An Overview of Conditions in the United States

The Concentration of Infrastructure along the Coast

Flooding in America

Wildfires in America

Hurricanes in America

Towards A New City

ALL ROADS LEAD TO DETROIT

(3) All Roads Lead to Detroit

Detroit and its History of Discrimination

Grassroots Movements

Site Conditions in Detroit

The Detroit Grosse Pointe Boundary

Waterfront Condition

Parking Condition

(4) Methodology

The Green Migration

Capitalism and Government Systems

(5) Detroit 2150

Our Site

Who’s Going to Detroit?

Detroit’s Future

Megastructures: City Intervention

Hierarchy in the Built Environment

Conclusions: What did We Learn

(6) References

(1-A.) American Infrastructure: An Overview

Infrastructure, the interdisciplinary network of coexisting systems necessary for society to operate, is often overlooked because it is an ever expanding amalgamation of many subject matters. Perhaps popular lexicon is to blame for this as its terminology fails to capture its sheer reach on the built environment; in a sense, it is the built environment. As such, infrastructure is paramount to the economy and greatly impacts the ecology of the world. The twenty trillion dollar US economy is completely reliant on the vast network of infrastructure including roads, bridges, airports, freight rails, ports, power lines, sewage systems, water recycling, etc. It is concerning that the US is widely still operating with the infrastructure it established in the 60s and 70s, especially considering the fact that its population has almost doubled.These decaying systems are projected to cost the United States 10 trillion dollars in losses as well as the loss of 3 million jobs over the next 30 years.

(1-B.) The Infrastructure Bill

Because the US is only paying half of its infrastructure bill, with every year the quality of its infrastructure decays. As it is today, the US infrastructure would need an estimated 2.59 trillion dollars invested into its infrastructure over the next ten years for it to be brought up to date. These drastic effects on the economy are a direct result of increased travel time from poor roads and inefficient airports and increased spending because of unreliable power grids and water sources. Beyond its economic impacts, infrastructure also has a lot of unforeseen consequences on the environment. The noise, hazardous waste, air pollution, water pollution, and increased carbon production is undoubtedly affecting the ecology of the world. The built environment itself contributes to 39% of global carbon emissions, and man made structures such as roads, fences, dams, have fragmented habitats, pushing species towards extinction.

EFFICIENCY

TIME 10. TEAM RESEARCH ACADEMIC WORK

(1-C.) Juxtapositions

The government has responded to the issues with infrastructure poorly. It’s policy has always been reactionary rather than active and engaged. Furthermore, the bipartisan governmental system and division between the federal government and state governments has led to great inefficiencies in producing change when dealing with such an urgent issue. Infrastructure is inherently temporary; factors like the materials, policies, current technology, population growth, rising sea levels, and the roles of human beings within ecology engage in a losing battle with time from their conception into existence. How can the infrastructure of the future address the adverse effects of time? How can it remain adaptable, flexible, and functional so that it can be resilient and future-proof? How can it prepare for unforeseen situations such as natural disasters and unimaginable technology? Can a fully-operating system turn back the clock?

(2) an overview of conditions in the United States

The great majority of US infrastructure is concentrated along the Coast. The cities within the middle of America are largely underdeveloped and neglected because they support smaller populations and have a much lower density. However, when looking at trends related to climate change such as flooding and wildfires, as well as trends related to natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, the coastal cities are the same cities that are by far the most vulnerable.

(2-A.) The Concentration of Infrastructure along the Coast

(1.) The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: 2005

INFRASTRUCTURE CONCENTRATION

An Overview of Conditions in the United States

AVALANCHE

EARTHQUAKE

SNOWFALL HAZARD

WILDFIRE

TORNADO HAZARD

LANDSLIDE

HURRICANE

FLOOD HAZARD

HEATWAVE HAZARD

DENSITY VS. HURRICANE

DENSITY VS. FLOOD HAZARD

HURRICANE CHRONOLOGY

HURRICANE EVACUATION ROUTES

CELLULAR TOWER

ELECTRIC POWER LINES

WASTEWATER TREATMENT

DRINKING WATER VIOLATION

CITY + POPULATION

CLEAN ENERGY POWER PLANTS

POWER PLANTS EMISSIONS

POWER PLANT + CO2 EMISSIONS

POVERTY + MAJOR INLAND TRANSIT

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME

USA UNOCCUPIED LAND

FLOODING RISK ZONE

An Overview of Conditions in the United States

(2-B.) Flooding in America

As the annual sea levels rise, flooding is becoming increasingly common. New York’s sea level, for example, increases by an inch every 7-8 years. In Staten Island the situation is so poor that the government has stepped in and purchased homes to move families out of national flood zones. It is estimated that the US loses about $8 billion a year. from flooding. Death tolls have also increased to more than 100 people a year.

NEW ORLEANS

MIAMI

BOSTON

PHILADELPHIA NEW ORLEANS

DETROIT

WILDFIRE RISK ZONE

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(2-C.) Wildfires in America

Warmer summers and drier conditions along the west coast have led to an increase of 800% in high-severity wildfires since 1985. The fires in California in 2020 displaced 200,000 people and burned through 1.5 million acres of land.

DESERTIFICATION RISK ZONES

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(2-D.) Desertification in America

40% of the United States is susceptible to desertification. A large portion of the vulnerable area in the US belongs the the breadbasket, an area that is responsible for feeding hundreds of millions of Americans.

HURRICANE RISK ZONES

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(2-E.) Hurricanes in America

Hurricanes have cost cities along the East Coast $138 billion dollars in damage in just 2018 and 2019 alone. It is estimated that hurricane winds and storm-related flooding costs the US $54 billion in damages annually, equivalent to 0.3 percent of the nation’s current gross domestic product.

WHERE TO NEXT?

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(2-F.) Towards a New City

With the infrastructure not being capable of handling these massive implications, at what point is the investment no longer worth the returns? As the ASCE has already reported, billions of dollars of investment will be required to simply upkeep our outdated systems; for us to ensure that our infrastructure is resilient for the future, it will only take more investment. This will be a serious issue in the future as by 2100, it is estimated that 13 million Americans and 2 billion people worldwide will become climate refugees. We need to be prepared for the prophetic climate migration and the recent infrastructure bill is simply not enough. Is it time to turn our attention away from the Coast?

The Midwest, on the other hand, seems free from natural disasters and the residual effects of climate change. Cities like Detroit, Duluth, and Buffalo also have an abundance of infrastructure and a lot of vacant land because of conditions related to the ‘Post-Industrial City. ‘Therefore, theoretically, they would be able to support a much larger population. By investing into post-industrial cities to make them more resilient to climate change, perhaps they could become potential safe havens for the future of the United States.

all roads lead to Detroit

(3-A.) Detroit and Its History

We looked to Detroit to understand the typical Post-Industrial city. Quickly, we identified that its decline correlated with the building of highways. This is because the highways facilitated the emigration of middle class families out of Detroit. Additionally, these highways were planned over redlined communities; Corporations like the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) redlined communities that were deemed hazardous. Communities that fell under this category were denied access to financial services such as banking or insurance, services such as health care and even access to supermarkets. As such minority communities have been torn apart. The loss of strong communities like the Black Bottom neighborhood and Paradise Valley has led to a disinvestment within minority populations.

After the white flight, the city was left in the hands of the communities that have that endured the most discrimination. This has led to poor education, low income, a lack of access to fresh foods, and a lack of access to public facilities like hospitals, among many other issues within the city. Also, when we look at the city of Detroit, we noticed a great disparity between the suburbs and the city. There were clear differences when looking at economic wealth, vacancy statistics, and location of national grocery stores. This decreasing population and income led to the city’s bankruptcy in 2013, so that even though the United States has since been desegregated, the boundary between the city and the suburbs is palpable, perpetuated by the infrastructure that was established in the 50s.

(I1.) The Black Bottom Neighborhood and Paradise Valley were destroyed to make room for the construction of I-375 in the 60s.

(1.) The Black Bottom Neighborhood and Paradise Valley were communities that were predominantly made up of African Americans. These communities had a lot of life, but were redlined by urban planners nonetheless.

DETROIT AND ITS HISTORY

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(3-B.) Grassroots Movements

Many residents of Detroit are actively engaged in the community, finding ways to mitigate the adverse conditions that they find themselves in. Some residents have, for example, seen the vast amout of abandoned land as an opportunity for urban/community farming. Because Detroit is effectively a fresh food desert, these gardens have become one of the main sources of freshly grown foods in the city. The city has also made it drastically easier for residents to purchase vacant properties at low prices; as a result, communities are building bottom-up program to provide more education, parks, and businesses in the area.

Additionally, organizations like Data Driven Detroit and Detroit City Future work towards planning potential responses that tackle issues like vulnerability and resilience.

(1.) Residents of Detroit Have Responded to the Lack of Fresh Food by Creating Community Gardens

FOOD DESERT

HOSPITALS

WEALTH DISTRIBUTION + CRIME

RED LINING

FOOD DESERT IN DETROIT

EDUCATION DISTRIBUTION

POLICE STATION

(3-C.) Disparity in Detroit

When observing the current infrastructure and resources available to Detroiters, it is obvious that the city of detroit has been neglected.The city is a fresh food desert, only having 3 national grocery chains within the city, has less a lack of hospitals everywhere except in downtown, has some of the poorest education statistics in the state of Michigan, and has considerably less wealth than its surrounding neighbors. In general, the community is underserved and this is perpetuated by the economy.

(3-D.) Site Conditions

Threshold Condition - As the entrance into the city, it acts as the transition from the outside to inside. The highway is large, complex, and directly affects the population because of the noise it produces. As a result, property here is scarce and vacancy is high.

Waterfront Condition - The Great Lakes Flow through the Detroit River, which acts as a strait that then feeds directly into Lake Erie. The heavy industry specifically around the southwest part of Detroit has polluted the water, affecting the whole lake ecosystem and contributing to the growth of HABS.

Parking Lot Condition - In Detroit, there is an excess of parking. For every 1,000 square feet,the city requires 10 spaces. For comparison, in New York City, for every 1000 square feet, there are only 0.6 parking spots. The vast amount of parking in Detroit has made the city difficult to walk around. Furthermore, many historical buildings have been converted to parking garages.

High Vacancy Condition - High vacancy plagues the whole of Detroit. However these sites have been chosen because they have a disparate amount of vacant land that begins to outmatch the amount of built property.

BOUNDARY CONDITION

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(3-E.) Detroit - Grosse Pointe Boundary Condition

We zoomed in on the city-suburb boundary at Detroit and Grosse Pointe, the location with the most economic difference. Just from looking at the two communities from an aerial view, there is a clear disparity in the vacancy of Detroit versus the development of Grosse Pointe. Then when looking at the local infrastructure, it became obvious that it was designed to discourage movement between the two communities.

BOUNDARY CONDITION

All Roads Lead to Detroit

At Scripps Street, Avondale Street, and Essex Drive, there is no bridge to get from Detroit to Grosse Pointe. The road suddenly disconnects along the city boundary before continuing across the other in Grosse Pointe, extending imaginarily across the creek. Meanwhile, at Brooks Street, Goethe Street, and Korte Avenue, there are barriers that reduce vision to Detroit. These barriers include brick walls, fences, and No Outlet signs. Finally, the Kercheval Roundabout has been designed to slow down traffic into Grosse Pointe. Beyond this, it has a history of being blocked by the city. At one point, there was a temporary barn constructed directly on the route that blocked Detroiters from entering the city. Later on, there were large flower pots erected in a straight line to create a barrier that made the space feel cut off from Detroit. Finally, when comparing the programs available to each resident, the schools in Grosse Pointe are some of the best in Michigan while the schools in Detroit continuously perform poorly.

WATERFRONT

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(3-F.) Waterfront Condition

The Great Lakes are a pivotal part of why the Midwest is so important for the future of America. The five Great Lakes, Lake Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario, span over 94,600 square miles and are the largest source of fresh water in the world. Industries have located their factories along the coast of these lakes; the pollution from these factories has negatively affected the ecosystems within these lakes and led to the growth of HABs (Harmful Algal Bloom). Because water is essential for life and will become more scarce in the future, it is important that the climate havens of the future preserve the lakes for the future.

(1.) HAB (Harmful Algal Bloom) in the Great Lakes are caused by pollutants. They are toxic to people as well as the native species that live within the ecosystem.

The Great Lakes provide drinking water to millions of people, serve as habitat for hundreds of species of fish, birds and invertebrates, and provide countless opportunities for recreational activities.

Harmful Algae Bloom (HAB) results from pollutants and residue from factories. Unlike regular algae, they have a chemically film and are toxic to humans and animals. They directly affect the fish population within the lake and destroy the Lake Erie habitat.

The temperature in Lake Erie has gradually increased as climate change made our Earth warmer. Such subtle changes drives the indigenous species out of their habitats; furthermore, the migration of species have been affected by temperature changes.

DANGERS TO LAKE ERIE

(1.) Plastic and trash are frequently dumped into the Great Lakes. This has led to plastic and microplastic being found in the local ecosystem.

(3.) There is a lot of industry concentrated along the coast of the Detroit River. Zug Island has so much industry that the island has a darker color than its surroundings; it contributes a lot of pollution to the river.

(2.) In the 60s, the lake had caught fire due to a lack of oxygen in the water; fish dead fish littered the shoreline and the residents exclaimed that “Lake Erie is dead.”

(4.) Flooding from the Great Lakes occurs as well. Houses along the coast of Detroit, for example, experience flooding annually as a result of fluctuating river levels.

PARKING LOTS

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(3-G.) Parking Lot Condition

25% of people don’t have cars in Detroit. There is more parking now than at any other point in Detroit’s history. In fact, 40% of Downtown is nothing more than car storage, even though parking lots inherently decrease urban density, safety, and walkability, more surface parking keeps being developed. Parking lots are also a health and safety issue. On hot days they act as heat islands, increasing energy consumption and heat-related illness. On rainy days they cause stormwater runoff, polluting our watershed and taxing our sewer system

(4-A.) The Green Migration

The journey to Detroit will be long and perilous. We imagined providing climate refugees with a bag of necessities and that would they would take with them to Detroit. We also thought through the process of getting from the coast to Detroit; we proposed nodes along the highways that had sets of temporary shelter that migrants could stay in along their trip. We organized the existing shelters offered by the United Nations into categories dependent on efficiency and durability to consolidate how this infrastructure could be envisioned.

LET’S GO TO DETROIT methodology

(4-B.) Capitalism and Government Systems

The way in which we decided to approach what the Detroit Climate Haven will look like was grounded in the current government and economic systems.

With regards to capitalism, it is valuable for the progression of technology because it harbors intense competition, which pushes every participant to be inventive. However, this same competitive spirit breeds corruption related to the selective exploitation of lower social classes.

With regards to our government, the twoprong Federal and State American government represents bipartisan interests effectively; laws are passed in a democratic fashion with slight skews based on who has majority control of the house. However, two voices are always represented especially federally, the government is compromised by compromise. Laws are watered down by the other side, and issues that could be addressed by other governments (think COVID protocols) are poorly mismanaged by our American government.

We used these reductive interpretations of systems as rules for how we imagined the climate haven to come to be.

LET’S GO TO DETROIT methodology

(4-C.) Approaching Detroit

We then wrote out a timeline for how the city would evolve, approaching it with through incremental stages that demonstrate how capitalism and government systems influence the Detroit. The following timeline followed our initial belief of how the city would evolve.

Detroit 2150

LET’S GO TO DETROIT

Detroit 2150

We

This is a neighborhood block along the Detroit-Grosse Pointe Boundary where, as you would expect, a lot of vacancy is visible on the side of Detroit, while Grosse-Pointe continues to be well-off and developed

(5-A.) Our Site

chose to focus on the boundary condition, using a block from the area as a representation of the rest of the city

(5-A.) Our Site

We felt that this boundary condition along the outer neighborhoods of Detroit was an interesting site,so we selected a block along the boundary. We were interested in the site because we thought that the division between the two cities would create a lot of contention, especially when climate migrants began to show up in the city. Along with the assortment of issues that we identified, we also asked ourselves some pivotal questions that influenced our image of what Detroit would look like in the next hundred years.

(5-B.) Who’s Going to Detroit?

When the climate migration inevitably comes, many of the wealthiest families would likely move either immediately inland to the closest city or they would go to the larger, more intact midwestern cities like Chicago or Columbus. Furthermore, those in economically better positions that would come to Detroit would likely inhabit the downtown, gentrified portions of Detroit. We saw our site as a refuge for climate migrants with no place to go. The land is exorbitantly cheap and there is a lot of it available. As such, we believe that families down on their luck with few other options would likely move to the Detroit Grosse Pointe Boundary condition.

DETROIT FUTURE TIMELINE

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(5-C.) Detroit’s Future

We believe that there will be an influx of 5 million new residents into Detroit as a result of climate change. Much of the timeline evolves around densification of the site, with little government oversight. The only moments of government oversight are when a global car ban occurs, when a megastructure to overhaul the existing water infrastructure is proposed, and when the people’s mover is extended to fit the whole city.

(5-C) Detroit’s Future

With regards to the densification of the city, we believe that following a capitalist system, the block condition will continuously be filled so long as their is demand. Because demand is rapidly increasing as a result of so much migration into Detroit, the value of the property is also increasing. Therefore, the original Detroit residents are finally seeing some benefits of sticking it out in Detroit for so long. In this regard, wanting to capitalize on this great migration, with events like the aforementioned car ban, Detroiters will see this as an opportunity to further densify their site. By replacing their garages with housing, they expand their own wealth and provide more housing for more migrants. Once the site fills up, the next step for expansion is, of course, vertically. Detroit residents will likely renovate on their houses to provide more rooms for incoming migrants. However, it is at this time that the government will likely acknowledge that there will be a great degredation in the structural ethicacy in these buildings followed by a difficulty with hooking these buildings up to existing infrastructural systems.

DETROIT FUTURE TIMELINE

All Roads Lead to Detroit

DETROIT 2150

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(5-D.) Megastructures: City Intervention

The city must propose a system that can effortless deliver water and some semblance of safety to a site that will otherwise quickly devolve into a chaotic and uncontrollable situation.

(5-D.) Megastructures: City Intervention

Not wanting the space to devolve into a slum, the government will develop a column infrastructure on the site that can simultaneously provide water, provide a framework for how the boundary condition would develop, and act as a height limit which also sets a population limit. The piped column structure is also innovative because it simplifies water infrastructure by providing a set of water tanks at the column pinnacle. This would contribute to the flexibility and efficiency of the system because water could now be distributed through these columns via gravity. Also, in creating such a system, it would be easier for future buildings to be connected to the water infrastructure.

The megastructure, which will finish construction in 2070, would aid in Detroit landlords who continue to build their makeshift towers higher. Around the same time, Detroit’s public transportation services, the people’s mover, also would be expanded to the outskirts of Detroit. With these levels of infrastructure in place the city of Detroit maintaining a high degree of economic laissez faire, would allow for the free market to dictate how the site grows. Because of the nature of capitalism, the microcity grew rapidly, unfettered, mostly because it couldn’t be monitored.

DETROIT 2150

All Roads Lead to Detroit

(5-E.) Hierarchy in the Built Environment

Because our city is laid out vertically, we believe that a hierarchy will develop within Detroit, where the rich occupy the highest levels of the city while the new migrants occupy the lowest levels of the city, largely due to access to light and air. As such, as the city gets higher, the buildings become increasingly opulent. In this way, social class is rendered into the building form., like the strata of the earth

(5-E.) The Highest Level

This zone is designated for the original Detroiters, who are now land lords that have capitalized on their property and its air rights. They have risen to the top of the climate haven zone where they have access to light and air.

(5-E.) The Middle Level

This zone is designated for the second generation Detroiters who moved to Detroit early on in the transition, but could not secure any property on the site for themselves. Rooms are tighter than the top, but this space is much better than the lowest level.

(5-E.) The Lowest Level

This zone is designated for climate refugees who are just now moving into Detroit. Much of the space is overcrowded, and while fragments of some of the xisting houses still exist, much of it is in a state of disrepair.

(5-E.) Hierarchy in the Built Environment

Additionally, as seen in the plans, there is a rigidity to how the original block has been laid out. However, as the city continues to expand, this ridigity is lost, as it has given way to the absurd. There is a loose megastructure at play, but it simply acts as a framework for chaos to develop.

(5-F.) Conclusions, What did We Learn?

Though in such a world, water security and protection from climate disasters is achieved, it is at the cost of space, light, and air. Our project demonstrates how greed when tied back to capitalism will impede on our future unless it is addressed now.

References

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