(Image by Michael Yun)
Michael Yun makes an interesting case in his master's thesis at the University of Michigan for Detroit's ample vacant lands to be restored to the vast prairie that it once was. Entitled "Alternative Uses for Vacant Land in Detroit, Michigan", Yun takes a look at the potential rejuvenation of derelict land. Completed in 2008 under Professor Joan Nassauer, Yun notes that the existing open lands in Detroit help to filter stormwater, harbor native plant and animal species, and serve as greenways that run through the city-- even better than what the previous houses and urban landscapes once did. He proposes for areas that have four contiguously vacant properties be converted to prairie, with a 30 foot mown buffer between the lots and adjacent properties. This would provide a safe distance so that occasional prescribed burns can maintain the prairie plots (or if it is a dilapidated structure, can burn the prairie and eyesore all at once). Yun extrapolates how this approach could be applied across the city-- which seems unlikely--but even if prairies were restored upon a few small plots, it would reduce the mowing needs and add a much-needed landscape integrity once again to portions of the city. Believe me, anything would look better than the current institutional-looking mown vacant plots. His study raises more questions than answers, but Yun's motives are clear when he writes "Could benevolent acts of restoration begin to heal the community even if the initial physical changes seem modest? Central to the value of this proposal is balanced consideration of both ecology and culture, and a belief that there is an underlying symbiosis of the two. Compassion, benevolence and healing are qualities that will positively influence both. In this sense, humble actions toward repair are the necessary first step."
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