Detroit was a city of nearly 2,000,000 people in 1950. It was also a city that housed these people in predominately single-family homes within a city limit totaling 138 square land miles [US Census Bureau]. This is more than the land area of Boston, San Francisco, and Manhattan combined [US Census Bureau]. Through time, neglect, and abandonment, many of these homes have become vacant or have been demolished. To rebuild or to “fill in the gaps” presupposes the re-growth of the city to its prior population and does not question the social, racial, or economic patterns of the time that generated this urban fabric.

Also, the scale of the city… The scale of the issues… The scale of the vacant space can be paralyzing. Thus, the work occurring in the city must simultaneously consider and operate at both the macro and the micro scales.