Requiem for Detroit

[nca]

Actually getting to the movie is kind of tricky..bewrae of where you click, but I think it’s well worth the watch. The film is very well made.

 

http://www.movie-forumz.org/showthread.php?t=176791

 

Could this be an opportunity for true urban agriculture? I think the situation in Detroit is a great (student) project in the making–retrofitting urban wasteland with viable agrculture at THE murder capital of the United States.

 

It may be way out there, but it would be cool to get a group together to do some pro bon master planning and and design for the city and see where it goes. I can contribute time..

 

 

[nca]

Land8 Design Competition??

Anyone?

[Ryan A. Waggoner]

like the idea, from the forum discussion earlier….i’m in, and i’m from the area so i could definitely help out and should have some free time…

[Jon Quackenbush]

count me in as well…

[Ben Yahr]

that was a pretty powerful movie. thanks for sharing the link.

i’d like to help out.

[nca]

I think what’s happening in Detroit right now exemplifies exactly the ideals many of the members here have been discussing.

The film made me wish I was still a student or had a little more time to investigate and present some solutions.

I’ve created a discussion topic within the Land8 Team Group forum and sent a message to the Land8 Team about how we might be able to implement some sort of Land8 Design charette/competiton. It would be great to partner with the city, and a group like ASLA or CLF to come up with some criteria, objectives, and some sort of prize or recognition.

With so many great minds out of work, what better way to advocate for the profession and design in general? I’ve heard of firms like MVVA doing schematic design for projects they weren’t even invited to work on just to present a better solution. I’m sure there are som people here who could present some better solutions for Detroit.

Any ideas?

[nca]

It would be great to get some base information and either post this publically, or share individually to discuss the potential scope and feasibility and get some ideas flowing. It would be great to get a GIS wiz involved..

[nca]

Read this:

http://www.planetizen.com/node/29527

[Andrew Spiering]

Great idea!

[Ben Yahr]

it was interesting taking a look at the city in google earth, including the panaramio images. looks fine.
but a tour around in google streetview is eye opening.

the city masterplan is interesting, not especially earth shattering:
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Departments/PlanningDevelopmentDepartment/Planning/LongRangeandCommunityPlanning/CurrentMasterPlan/tabid/1992/Default.aspx

they don’t seem to give away gis data for free:
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Departments/InformationTechnologyServices/GISMaps/tabid/660/Default.aspx

[nca]

I’m not sure many cities do give away GIS data, but it’s not uncommon in my experience to ask nicely an dget free data for nonprofit/academic purposes. GISdatadepot.com and the USGS Seamless map server sites have a plethora of free data including demographics and dems.

Like I said before, if I wasnt at working full time I’d pursue this a lot more agressively, if not for others, for my own interests at least. I definitely think there is opportunity, but I’m not sure there is much interest.

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