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The report, the Detroit
Future City Strategic Framework, presented a detailed
approach for the city’s future which has been organized
around five elements: Economic Growth: An Equitable City;
Land Use: The image of the City; City Systems and
Environment: A Sustainable City; Neighborhood: A City of
District and Regionally Competitive Neighborhoods and Land
and Building Assets: A Strategic Approach to Public Land
Use.
One year later, a home
base was established and a leadership team installed to
ensure the execution of the Strategic Framework and in 2015
DFC began a transition to becoming an independent non-profit
organization.
Allandra Bulger, deputy
director of operations and capacity building is part of that
leadership team. A University of Michigan-Dearborn graduate
with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Bulger earned a
masters in public administration from Oakland University and
has been part of DFC for two years.
“We serve as stewards of
this document,” she says of the 50-year blueprint that
projects success for Detroit and how to achieve it. The DFC
office utilizes five approaches to implementing the elements
in the blueprint, says Bulger.
First the office engages
the community through activities and events. They convened
local and national experts in order to have a conversation
about regionalism and the equitable growth of the economy.
Second, the office
provides a tool kit – a field guide to working with land –
specifically the 20 square miles of vacant land. They have
created 34 lot designs that can be used to repurpose that
land.
Third, the office supports
community-based organizations in their efforts to revitalize
the city. For example, they work with neighborhood groups in
their clean-up and beautification efforts.
Fourth, they help create a
buzz about creative ways of utilizing vacant land.
Fifth, they serve as
strategic advisors in the effort to mitigate future
disasters, particularly natural disasters such as floods.
As with any set of
guidelines that attempts to foster civic improvement, the
devil is in the details – and in the money. DFC’s funders
include the Erb Family Foundation; the Kresge Foundation
(which pledged to put up $150 million over five years
towards hundred of projects, in addition to the money they
fronted for the planning process); the Knight Foundation;
the Americana Foundation and the Michigan State Housing
Development Authority.
The office brings together
a team of individuals with diverse backgrounds to work on
the implementation of the framework including those with
backgrounds in management, policy-making, urban planning,
architecture and non-profit agencies.
A field guide on land use,
for example, takes prospective users through the process of
putting together a group of like-minded individuals,
gathering information on the neighborhood and vacant lot,
determining soil quality, budgeting and designing.
The idea behind the
process of planning with the input of experts, civic
leaders, residents and implementation with a team of experts
still soliciting that input is to have a comprehensive and
democratic effort to revitalizing the city for the benefit
of its residents.
“At its core, it’s about
improving the quality of life for Detroiters,” says Bulger. |
