Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Detroit

Connecting Detroit Neighborhoods With Better Streets and Public Spaces

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 16, 2014 | No Comments

Can safer streets and livelier public spaces help knit Detroit back together? The Michigan Municipal League thinks so, and it is working hard to show southeast Michigan how. Recently the organization teamed up with some partners to address a problem area in southwest Detroit, or Mexicantown. Sarah Craft at the Economics of Place blog explains: […]

7 Photos Show How Detroit Hollowed Out During the Highway Age

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 24, 2014 | 110 Comments

While searching for images of highway interchanges in urban areas, I came across these historic aerial photos of Detroit on a message board, showing how the city fabric has slowly eroded. It’s a remarkable record of a process that has scarred many other American cities. 1949: Here’s what the east side of the city looked like right […]

Talking Headways Podcast: A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings In the Metro

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 13, 2014 | 3 Comments

The metro is coming to Loudon County, Virginia. Eventually. The Silver Line expansion that opens this summer will only go as far as Reston, but by 2018 it’ll be in Loudon, one of the nation’s fastest-growing — and wealthiest — counties. As the county’s population continues to grow — especially among communities of color — will […]

Detroit Has a $2 Billion Vacancy Crisis But the Region Still Splurges on Roads

By Angie Schmitt | May 29, 2014 | 1 Comment

On Tuesday, the results of a federal report on Detroit’s vacancy crisis made jaws drop: The pricetag for tearing down and cleaning up the city’s abandoned properties would be $1.85 billion, the report found. Where the money will come from is a wide open question at this point. So is the more basic issue of […]

Parking Madness Elite Eight: Rochester vs. Detroit

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 3, 2014 | 15 Comments

The last spot in the 2014 Parking Madness Final Four is at stake today, as Rochester faces off against Detroit. The pictures of these two places, below, really speak for themselves. So without further ado, we’ll leave it up to you guys to tell us which city has the worst parking crater. Here’s Rochester: This […]

Parking Madness: Detroit vs. Atlanta

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 20, 2014 | 19 Comments

Yesterday, Chicago’s United Center parking lots bested Denver’s Court Place parking crater in the first match-up of Parking Madness 2014. Today, two heavyweights are facing off: It’s the motor city versus sprawl city in a bare-knuckle brawl of car infrastructure run amok. Without further ado, here’s the Detroit entry. Warning: This could get ugly. This […]

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