Detroit

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. households have at least one pet. More than ever before, companion animals are a part of life – particularly in cities, where the majority of Americans live. Cities offer access to many resources, but often it’s not distributed evenly. Some scholars describe parts of U.S. cities with few or no grocery stores as food deserts. Others have identified zones they call transit deserts, where reliable and convenient public transit is scarce or nonexistent. While the “desert” framing is controversial, there is little disagreement that access to goods and services in many U.S. cities is unequal. I have studied urban animal welfare issues for the past 15 years, and I have found that the inequities and economic stress humans face affect animals as well. Recently, University of Nebraska geographer Xiaomeng Li and I explored access to animal welfare services in Detroit. We found that pet resources were significantly more likely to be loca...

In 2021, metro Detroit was hit with a rainstorm so severe that President Joe Biden issued a major disaster declaration at state officials’ request. Nearly 8 inches of rain fell within 24 hours, closing every major freeway and causing massive damage to homes and businesses. The storm was of a severity historically seen in Detroit every 500 to 1,000 years. But over the past decade, the region has experienced several other storms only slightly less destructive, one in August 2023. As the planet warms, severe rains – and the flooding that follows – may become even more intense and frequent in cities like Detroit that have aging and undersized stormwater infrastructure. These extreme events put enormous pressure on communities, but low-income urban neighborhoods tend to suffer the most I am a geomorphologist at the University of Michigan-Dearborn specializing in urban environments, water, historical mapping and flood-risk equity. My recent research, conducted...

Michigan residents overwhelmingly want more solar power. In the spring of 2023, nearly two-thirds of 1,000 state residents surveyed supported additional large-scale solar development. In the Energy Values Lab at Michigan State University, we study how the public, and specifically community members living near large-scale wind and solar projects, perceive those projects and the processes by which they are approved. According to a survey we conducted in the fall of 2023 that has not yet been peer reviewed, there may be less support in urban Michigan communities, particularly among those already living close to an existing solar project. Fewer than half of the 158 residents who took our survey supported their local project. And around the 10-acre, DTE Energy-owned O’Shea Solar Park in Detroit, support was even lower, with only a third of respondents supporting that project. What predicted residents’ support of their local project? Mainly whether they saw the deve...

The intersection of Fort Street and Oakwood Boulevard in southwest Detroit today functions mostly as a thoroughfare for trucks and commuters. However, as you sit idling at the stoplight waiting to cross the bridge over the Rouge River, you might glance to the side and see something unexpected in this heavily industrialized area: A sculpture of weathered steel reaches toward the sky alongside a spray of flowers and waves of grasses and people fishing. This inconspicuous corner, now the home of the Fort Street Bridge Park, has several stories to tell: of a river, a region, a historic conflict and an ongoing struggle. If you pull over, you’ll enter a place that attempts to pull together threads of history, environment and sustainable redevelopment. Signs explain why this sculpture and park are here: to honor the memory of protesters who met on this very spot on March 7, 1932, before marching up Miller Road to the massive Ford Rouge River Complex located in the adjacent c...

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Detroit residents got a break from water shut-offs. In March 2020, just after the coronavirus made hand-washing a matter of public health, the City of Detroit announced a plan that kept water services on for residents for US$25 a month, with the first payment covered by the state. Although all Detroiters had access to water during the pandemic, they continued to be billed at the higher standard rates. In early 2023, Detroit resumed water shut-offs for bill nonpayment. Approximately 60,000, or 27% of Detroit’s 220,000 residential customers, had past-due bills last summer, according to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. The average customer owes $700, but some owe as much as $10,000 due to years of unpaid bills. Although a variety of factors contribute to large past-due balances, water services in Detroit are expensive for many households, and the costs are rising. We are geographers and policy analysts with an intere...