The map represents the dynamics of demolitions in Detroit.

Background

“Shrinking cities today are focused more on demolition than construction strategies” (Ryan 2012, xiii).
After years of disinvestment and filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, in 2013 major institutions in Detroit started to restructure. As one of results, in November 2013, the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force, in partnership with Michigan Nonprofit Association, Data Driven Detroit, and Loveland Technologies, conducted a physical survey that gathered property condition data for all 380,000 parcels in the entire city. The project was called Motor City Mapping. The reasoning for undertaking the project was the lack of “comprehensive, single database that accurately defined the current scope of blight in Detroit” Detroit Blight Removal Task Force. The previous survey dated back to 2009, was not comprehensive and was not updated since.
As a result of Motor City Mapping, “40,077 structures are recommended for removal as they meet the Task Force definition of blight (residential and non-residential structures). The Department of Demolition is undertaking this task. Many blighted structures are being demolished. The built environment is changing significantly, and the city fabric is becoming less dense.

Sources

• Ryan, Brent D. Design After Decline: How America Rebuilds Shrinking Cities. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc, 2012.

Data sources and manipulation

This map was done using Census Blocks TIGER/Shaperfile obtained from US Census.
Housing Units Estimates are obtained from American Community Survey. The combined file can be downloaded here.
The Neighborhoods' boundaries is obtained from The City of Detroit Open Data Portal.
The demolitions datasets is acquired from The City of Detroit Open Data Portal.
The colors were picked from the 100 abandoned houses photo using Coolors.co.

This map utilizes Leaflet.js, chroma.js, the leaflet.heat and jQuery. The web page uses Bootstrap for responsive design.
Map authored by Irina Golovitskaya for NewMapPlus.
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