Mapping Detroit

"Mapping Detroit looks at Detroit by means of the lens of maps old and new, some from colonial occasions and some brand new. The book is proof that Detroit's fascination with maps is developing as we try to have an understanding of our city. Edited by June Manning Thomas, a professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, and Henco Bekkering, a visiting professor at UM, Mapping Detroit presents new insights into how Detroit rose and fell."—John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press

"The book acts as a repository for redevelopment; 'It puts together ideas or initiatives that already exist, to knit a whole,'said Lars Gräbner, Detroit architect and coauthor. 'When paired with current initiatives, the book could be used as a proposal for land use,' he said. But the strength of this book lies within the city's rich culture captured in images, maps and diagrams tracing the city's development. The book's breadth is overwhelming but so is the dilemma of Detroit. Whether a problem social, political or environmental, the significant challenge of size remains. As Manning Thomas and Bekkering put it, Detroit is a 'physical envelop in many ways too big for its remaining contents.'"—Kevin Duffy, Great Lakes Echo

"Mapping Detroit analyzes the city's evolution from frontier fort to industrial metropolis to high-vacancy city, including case studies of two neighborhoods and essays by contributors ranging from a map archivist and a historian to architects, urban designers, and urban planners. Maps and graphics demonstrate both historic change and new opportunity, evidence of a maior but unfinished urban transformation."—Michigan History

"A must-read for Detroiters and urbanists, for those fascinated by the city and by cities. It contains so many graphically vivid analyses of this place that remains vitally important for understanding twentieth- and twenty-first-century urban dynamics. I commend the editors for including such rich history, cartography, and spatial analysis in one volume."—Dan Immergluck, Professor, School of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology

"Detroit is one of the most fascinating American cities. University of Michigan urban planner June Manning Thomas and Dutch urban designer Henco Bekkering have assembled an insightful collection of essays on both the history of the city and its contemporary challenges, with extensive mapping of its evolving land uses."—Dennis Keating, Professor, Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University

"Mapping Detroit brings together incisive and compelling essays to explain Detroit's condition and draw contours for its future. Wonderfully insightful maps and graphics convey both historic change and new possibility without resorting to the shock of Detroit's ruins. Instead, we observe a major yet unfinished urban transformation through one iconic city. This is an important and original collection."—Renia Ehrenfeucht, Lhma Professor in Cupa, University of New Orleans