From Motown to Growtown: The greening of Detroit

[ensho]

http://www.grist.org/article/food-from-motown-to-growtown-the-greening-of-detroit


"We Shall Rise Again from the Ashes.
We Shall Hope for Better Things."
-- Mottoes on the Official Seal of Detroit (1826), quoted in Thomas Sugrue's Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit


"Detroiters have an edge to us," community organizer and urban-agriculture activist Malik Yakini told me. "We were forged in a furnace. You have to have a rough exterior to survive, to not be crushed."

-long snip of Detroit history-

Between 1970 and 2000, Byles reports, "more than 161,000 dwellings were demolished in Detroit, amounting to almost one-third of the city's occupied housing stock -- that's more than the total number of occupied dwellings today in the entire city of Cincinnati." And demolition activity continues today. "Mayor Readies Detroit Demolition Plan," declares a March headline. As Byles makes clear, every Detroit mayor since the ‘70s placates the public by boasting of the next big demolition spree.

All of the resulting vacant land, much of which ends up owned by the city, provides the very asset that fuels the garden movement.

-snip-

The city's food-production capacity is, in a word, immense. The Mott researchers reckon that there are 44,000 vacant publicly owned land parcels, representing nearly 5,000 acres, around the city. That's more than enough land for the city's farmers and gardeners to crank out a significant portion of Detroit's fruit and vegetable needs, the study showed. They calculate that with proper investments in season-extension infrastructure like hoop houses (which wouldn't require fossil fuel for heating even in Detroit's frigid winters) and space to store crops like potatoes, skilled farmers using biointensive techniques on just 570 acres could produce 70 percent of the vegetables consumed in Detroit and 40 percent of the fruit. (Non-professional-level gardeners could produce that much food with 2,100 acres under cultivation.)

The Mott study doesn't comment on the possible economic benefits, but back-of-the envelope calculations suggests that they are significant.
-snip-
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show us how its done Detroit!

[unblock]

1. hey, growtown is here in connecticut!

although it's spelled groton and is mostly known for building submarines.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I will rec this thread, but I read it with real mixed emotions

On the one hand, kudos to the urban gardeners and big thinkers who are behind this. It is ALL good.

On the other hand, this smacks of a move from industrialization to a subsistence existence. A harbinger of the entire country's moving backward, not forward. When acres and acres of urban land are worth more as tomato plants than any other available purpose, it is NOT a good sign.

[mopinko]

4. i get your point, but then again

i think moving to less intensive food production is good for the planet. the movement to grow local is, no pun intended, growing. we have a farmers market in my neighborhood, on the edge of chicago, where everything is organic and produced within 200 miles. there are small farms on vacant lots in the city, and rooftops. just the kind of thing you get with good democratic leadership.

[OneGrassRoot]

5. I agree, I see it as a very good thing....

albeit birthed out of the decay and destruction of the old ways...out of necessity.

I'm following all the urban gardening/greening trends and find them VERY inspiring!

:hi:

[starroute]

6. Subsistence needs never go away

Every civilization has been built on its ability to produce an abundant food supply. The great river-irrigation civilizations of antiquity. The intensive rice-paddy agriculture of China. The rich topsoil of the Midwest that we've let degrade and erode away.

You can't build a civilization on factories. You build it on land and on food -- and the good stuff comes after that.

Part of our problem right now is that towns were built in the richest agricultural areas -- and as those towns grew into cities, much of the best farmland was paved over. We need to get that land back, and then maintain it properly.

[RainDog]

11. food security is a big issue

and urban gardening is also a big topic now as a GOOD thing - to offset the bad from mass production in agri-biz. any place that creates more food security will be better off as climate change enacts its toll.

the way I see it - Detroit led the way in mass production with Ford and the Model-T.

Ford also produced a car made out of hemp fiber, that could run on hemp fuel - but this car was abandoned b/c of prohibition of hemp and b/c of the subsidized fossil fuel industry.

how much damage has Texas politics cause this country b/c of their influence via big oil? too much, imo. With climate change, the south may experience some major changes in its environment - and people may find it's better to migrate to the north - to me, this would be a good thing b/c it would mean the death of southern political power - which, to me, has been THE WORST thing for American politics. the south is, to this day, so regressive you have to wonder if they eat stupid for breakfast.

now Detroit, which is not only moving toward urban farming, but also toward eventual (and sooner than most places in the midwest) legalization of hemp (med mj is already in the works) can lead the way to reducing the power of big oil in American life.

Canada already has a prototype hemp car - they acknowledge that Ford led the way - and they also acknowledge they have a head start on the U.S. because of the prohibition of hemp.

Detroit has the capacity in place, already, to move to hemp manufacturing.

If I were rich, I would already be investing in cannabis industries - in medical research groups and hemp manufacturing - because that's the future - not the right wing crap that we have now.

Issues of sustainability and a move beyond the idea of what constitutes the "good life" in America are changing - yes, partly because people are hurting economically - but ideas about the "good life" are also changing because people who have been advocating better, more earth-friendly ways of being are finally being heard by those smart enough to see the future benefits for all of us - and some of those people are also capitalists.

[ensho]

12. agree!

nt

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Kicking in hope of an actual discussion breaking out

I know that's a rarity on DU, but I can hope.

[WhiteTara]

7. in ways that are not apparent

things get better. I know that Detroit has sustained heavy blows to its economy, but this is a major blessing.

[NashVegas]

8. I Expect Detroit To Be Reborn As An Artists' Community

For at least a little while.

[blue_onyx]

9. That would be great

I've read articles about artists moving to Detroit for the cheap housing. There's a lot of potential in Detroit if people are willing to give the city a chance.

[WhiteTara]

10. Artists always make things beautiful and vibrant

and alive, so you are right...especially with the fresh food community, this will be a wonderful place until the developers discover it and the cycle begins again.