By David Whitford, editor at large, December 29, 2009: 11:37 AM ET
DETROIT (Fortune) -- John Hantz is a wealthy money manager who lives in an older enclave of Detroit where all the houses are grand and not all of them are falling apart. Once a star stockbroker at American Express, he left 13 years ago to found his own firm. Today Hantz Financial Services has 20 offices in Michigan, Ohio, and Georgia, more than 500 employees, and $1.3 billion in assets under management. …
Then one day about a year and a half ago, Hantz had a revelation. "We need scarcity," he thought to himself as he drove past block after unoccupied block. "We can't create opportunities, but we can create scarcity." And that, he says one afternoon in his living room between puffs on an expensive cigar, "is how I got onto this idea of the farm."
Yes, a farm. A large-scale, for-profit agricultural enterprise, wholly contained within the city limits of Detroit. Hantz thinks farming could do his city a lot of good: restore big chunks of tax-delinquent, resource-draining urban blight to pastoral productivity; provide decent jobs with benefits; supply local markets and restaurants with fresh produce; attract tourists from all over the world; and -- most important of all -- stimulate development around the edges as the local land market tilts from stultifying abundance to something more like scarcity and investors move in. Hantz is willing to commit $30 million to the project. He'll start with a pilot program this spring involving up to 50 acres on Detroit's east side. "Out of the gates," he says, "it'll be the largest urban farm in the world." …
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Can farming save Detroit?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Absence of water: abandoned pools
By Claire O'Neill
At least in Washington, D.C., today feels like the swampiest, most oppressively hot day of the year. And in the impossible attempt to beat the heat, this collection of photos somehow seems appropriate: Gigi Cifali, London-based photographer, has a series depicting abandoned swimming pools that practically scoff at the idea of cooling off.
These photos are part of an ongoing series called "Absence of Water." Cifali, originally trained as a topographer in Naples, is interested in creating a historical archive of derelict public pools in the United Kingdom. These pools, first built in the late Victorian period, reached the height of popularity in the 1930s. But an increasing number have recently fallen into decay -- either because of diminishing civic funds or general lack of interest. …
Absence Of Water: Abandoned Pools
Sunday, June 14, 2009
UC Berkeley: Shrinking Cities Group
Today, every 6th city in the world can be defined as a “shrinking city.” This is a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing cities, parts of cities, or metropolitan areas that are experiencing a dramatic decline in their economic and social bases. The causes of this urban decline are many and complex, though one common denominator is that each “shrinking city” has been significantly impacted by the forces of globalization. Marked by a loss of employment opportunities and the attendant out-migration of population, many shrinking cities have suffered from the post-industrial shift from manufacturing to service industries (e.g., Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Manchester/UK). Other factors contributing to this decline are the so-called “second generation” transformations in the high-tech sector (e.g., the collapse of the dot-com industry in California) and economic changes wrought by the dissolution of socialist systems (e.g., in eastern Germany). These processes, among others, have drained essential investment and resources from many urban areas, leaving the remaining cities with an ever-diminishing fiscal base.
The Shrinking Cities Group's work is carried out under the aegis of the Institute of Urban and Regional Development. The work draws upon the Institute's long-standing research experience in regional development and its vital worldwide networking activities with experts in research and policymaking.
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