Wastelands, Greenways and Gentrification: Introducing a Comparative Framework with a Focus on Detroit, USA

Abstract

Vacant, abandoned or unproductive land parcels, sometimes called “wastelands”, offer opportunities to create new green spaces in cities. Such spaces may be utilized to add to the stock of urban nature, expand recreational green space, promote real estate or commercial development, or simply remain undefined. These various trajectories have significant implications for population health, ecosystem services and real estate values. However, they may also contribute to inequitable outcomes. Are disadvantaged communities, which may be paradoxically rich in wastelands, more advantaged when green space redevelopment occurs, or are they more at risk of green gentrification and associated displacement? To address this question, we first review some of the literature relative to wastelands, especially as they relate to processes of urban change such as depopulation, land use planning, regrowth and gentrification. We utilize historical redlining maps, the Detroit Master Plan and projected land use scenarios from the Detroit Future City (DFC) Strategic Framework Plan to identify areas of vulnerability or possibility within walking distance of the proposed Joe Louis Greenway (JLG). Finally, we consider how wastelands situated along the JLG may be reframed as flexible opportunity spaces, their potential leveraged to advance environmental justice, economic opportunity, and social equity, especially as the City of Detroit takes socioeconomic and racial equity as a key orienting principle—an alternative to green gentrification that we call green reparations.

How well do we know green gentrification? A systematic review of the methods

“…Qualitative approaches also included review/analysis of various materials, primarily news media (Curran and Hamilton, 2012; Garcia-Lamarca et al, 2019; Rigolon et al, 2020b) and planning/policy documents (Checker, 2011; Safransky, 2014; Glennie, 2020) but also websites and social media (Håkansson, 2018; Amorim Maia et al, 2020; Parish, 2020) and archival materials (Bryson, 2013; Draus et al, 2020; McNeur, 2017). Typically, case studies employed a combination of various review materials, often in addition to interviews and/or observations, resulting in a contextually rich understanding.…”

“…Even if greening is not the starting point for capital reinvestment, it is plausible for it to be situated somewhere within the complex web of capital flow, spurring subsequent reinvestment. However, it is necessary to consider other redevelopment plans and how they influence capital reinvestment (Checker, 2011; Lang and Rothenberg, 2017; Ali et al, 2020; Draus et al, 2020). If a city plan includes greening alongside several other developments, it becomes less clear how much influence greening has played in attracting capital reinvestment.…”

“…Data limitations make longer temporal breadths difficult to achieve, but some have used archival resources to highlight processes akin to green gentrification in the 19 th and 20 th centuries (Bryson, 2013;McNeur, 2017). Others highlighted the role of historic urban planning/ policies-such as redlining-in shaping green gentrification (Draus et al, 2020). As Anguelovski et al (2019) highlighted in their review, historicity is critical for understanding how greening came to influence gentrification.…”

Wilding cities for biodiversity and people: a transdisciplinary framework

“…Due to their proximity to residential locations, they are regularly frequented by urban residents for a variety of recreational activities (Brun et al ., 2018; Rupprecht et al ., 2015; Palliwoda & Priess, 2021). In addition to their ecological interest, informal spaces can thus complement formal green spaces and reduce distributional inequality in access to nature (Draus et al ., 2020), especially for the most vulnerable people such as children or the elderly, (e.g. in Łódź and Warsaw, Poland) (Sikorska et al ., 2020).…”