The Kale is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence: Re-(un)developing Urban Land for Agricultural Purposes in Detroit

I came across this article in the Oregonian the other day and was astounded by a few things:

Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit . . . [and turn] large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

"Things that were unthinkable are now becoming thinkable"

a city of nearly 2 million in the 1950s has declined to less than half that number. . . . approximately 40 square miles of vacant property in Detroit . . .

The current plan would demolish about 10,000 houses and empty buildings in three years and pump new investment into stronger neighborhoods.

There are organizations like Hantz Farms that are preparing to make use of the newly-cleared land in Detroit to create "the world's largest urban farm."

This is a pretty exciting project that will likely help re-define what "urban" means.

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