Michigan

Spencer Fleury looks into the contradictory nature of his hometown Detroit; as the city commonly praised for its car culture is now being crushed by it.

April 25, 2012 - Beyond the Cul de Sac

John Gallagher investigates a growing trend of unsanctioned urban agriculture in Detroit, where residents have had to take alternative land use into their own hands.

April 11, 2012 - Detroit Free Press

Just 24 hours before Governor Snyder's deadline for appointing an emergency manager for Detroit to help rein in its budgetary troubles, the city council has voted to approve a consent agreement with the State of Michigan.

April 5, 2012 - Detroit Free Press

Just months after a proposal to build the first wind farm to be located offshore on any of the Great Lakes was shelved, five neighboring states have struck a deal with the Obama administration to develop offshore wind farms more quickly.

April 4, 2012 - The Buffalo News

As the city runs out of cash, Detroit leaders are balking at a restructuring deal proposed by state officials to establish a joint advisory board to address the city’s financial troubles without a state-appointed emergency manager.

March 15, 2012 - The New York Times

The 100,000 daily riders who depend on Detroit's bus system have been feeling the effects of public transportation cuts: commute times have doubled, paychecks have suffered. But Quin Klinefelter reports the worst may be yet to come.

March 10, 2012 - NPR

Tanveer Ali sees Detroit, where the impending arrival of retail behemoths has been greeted with enthusiasm by a city in desperate need of jobs and retail outlets, as an interesting test case for theories about the economic value of big-box stores

March 5, 2012 - Good

Detroit native Pete Saunders makes the case that poor planning put the nail in Motown's casket.

February 25, 2012 - Urbanophile

This past Wednesday, Amtrak debuted the newest high-speed rail service in the country, and the first outside of the northeast corridor. Where you ask? California? Florida? Nope, it's is Kalamazoo, Michigan.

February 19, 2012 - Chicago Sun-Times

Christopher Mims reports on L. Brooks Patterson, county executive of Oakland County, Michigan, who is perhaps the country's most vocal advocate of sprawl.

February 17, 2012 - Grist

Detroit's municipal financial crisis may force the city to sell some of its most venerable assets including Belle Isle, City Airport, and even the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, reports Darren A. Nichols.

February 13, 2012 - The Detroit News

Dan Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans Inc., is perhaps one of Detroit's biggest boosters of late. And he's putting his money where his mouth is.

January 28, 2012 - The Detroit News

When a building in blighted Highland Park, Michigan was demolished, a painted advertisement on the adjacent building was revealed. Nearby, other ghost ads remain, "nearly as bright" as ever. Dan Berry reports on why we're so fascinated by them.

January 24, 2012 - The New York Times

Just three weeks after the city announced it was cancelling plans for a 9.3-mile light rail line, a truncated version may be built, but with some key caveats.

January 16, 2012 - the transport politic

According to a team reviewing the city's finances, a state-appointed emergency manager may not have to be put in place, indicating that Detroit isn't necessarily going broke. However, the city and union leaders must act quickly to prove so.

January 12, 2012 - The Washington Post

The formula for Detroit's current status is complicated -- a mix of local, regional and national socioeconomic forces. But while many hands have shaped the good and bad of today's Detroit, the impact of current federal policy is easy to spot.

January 4, 2012 - City Limits

A former industrial corridor in Benton Harbor, Michigan is being transformed into a resort community complete with golf course.

December 20, 2011 - The New York Times

The city and federal DOT have decided against a $600 million plan that would introduce light rail and, subsequently, more residents to the city. Instead, money will go to improving a notoriously unreliable bus system.

December 18, 2011 - The Wall Street Journal

They mayor of Troy, Mich. chooses ideology over investment, The Atlantic's says Eric Jaffe.

December 12, 2011 - The Atlantic

Sam Graves at Dwell says that Detroit's Lafayette Park, planned by Mies van der Rohe in 1956, is a rare success story from the planned developments of that era.

December 5, 2011 - Dwell