Mapping Detroit: land, community and shaping a city

摘要

Mapping Detroit is not merely a book which depicts the physical transformation of a post-industrial city through various maps illustrating the causes of social and economical decline. With the significant contribution of the editors, urban designer Beckering, planner and community life observer Thomas and their colleagues, it makes a profound contribution to the subject of how spatial evolution of a city is brought about. Detroit, as it is discussed throughout the book, is an interesting case/model, not only among American cities but also in the different continents of the world.The introduction compares Detroit with other cities throughout the world, such as Berlin, Moscow and Birmingham among others, in terms of its spatial organization and population loss. The book is unique as it reveals how a city can develop very fast with an automobile industry at its peak and then collapse with decentralization, the wrong economic and political strategies and federal acts. There are similarities with other cities as it faces the challenge of post-war difficulties or other urban dynamics, such as shrinkage, social inequity, the exodus of residents and segregation. However, either in terms of its scale, location or fragmented structure, Detroit could not rapidly recover as happened in other former industrial cities. In that sense. Mapping Detroit is a critical book, as it claims not to categorize the land use of Detroit in the conventional way that we are used to, but discusses current and possible emerging land usages and patterns.Therefore, it opens up discussions and questions to the readers, whether urban designers, planners, leaders and stakeholders, on the future of Detroit and other cities. Lynch states that, "It is impossible to explain how a city should be without understanding how it is" (Lynch 1981, 39). Contributors structured the book for the reader first to understand how the city was in the past, followed by its development to its present situation and raises discussions for the future.