Can Adaptive Reuse and Mixed Use Save a City?

Adaptive reuse and mixed-use are two of the most popular catch phrases in urban development and planning circles today. A growing share of the industry is being shaped by these two sectors in larger cities where the real estate markets have stabilized. Imagine what could happen by combining these two together in less fortunate cities. Take Detroit for example. This once booming industrial city has become the poster child for low density, blight and vacancy in America. However, through the Detroit Works Project the city is looking for ways to go about revitalizing this dying city. With over a third of the city’s land lying vacant, something must be done to restructure the city to increase density and decrease blight. Detroit is filled with Art-Deco and Neo-Gothic buildings that exude the heritage and history of the city. However, many of these beautiful buildings lie abandoned and without use. Finding new innovative uses for them is a much better investment in the long-term view of the city. Detroiters love the heritage of their city, and further destroying it by removing its historical structures could potentially cripple it even more. By rehabilitating these buildings and implementing new mixed-uses could serve to promote the density that this city so desperately needs. Let us not forget that the ‘greenest’ building is one that has already been built.

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Jacob Dietrich is a student at Ball State University completing his major in Urban Planning and Development this Spring.