Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Ethnographic Study of Urban Redevelopment.

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

Cities are complex assemblages of social, political, economic, and environmental systems, all of which are dependent on the built environments in which people live and work. When the buildings deteriorate and the infrastructure breaks down, the effects may exacerbate contemporary problems such as deindustrialization, population loss, and environmental degradation. But what happens when the environmentally hazardous structures are removed? Are the problems cured? And are the lives of urban populations, particularly previously disadvantaged populations, improved? To answer these questions, the research supported by this award will examine the before and after of a planned massive demolition of an urban center in an American city. The researcher will document the process of demolition, map the changes in the configuration of urban space, explore the new economic arrangements that are established, and connect them to changes in people's lives, health, and opportunities. By enhancing social scientific understanding of how complex systems shape urban life, findings from this research will provide critical information for officials, planners, and scientists charged with improving urban life. The research will be carried out in Detroit, Michigan, by University of Michigan doctoral student Nicholas Caverly, under the supervision of Dr. Erik Mueggler. Caverly will focus on the case of the large-scale building demolition program, which anticipates demolishing 50,000 vacant buildings by 2020 in order to improve public health and safety, property values, and the municipal budget. Caverly will gather data on the removal process, worker retraining, and the management of hazards, as well as the spatial, environmental, and economic outcomes. He will use a mix of social science methods including participant observation; semi-structured interviews with a wide range of stakeholders; institutional ethnography and extended case studies; archival research; and cartography. By taking advantage of this opportunity to see how the built environment affects urban life in the process of its creation as well as in its aftermath, this research will make a unique contribution to social science theory as well as to improved urban social policy.