Dr. Monica White

Emergent Cityscapes: Communities of color, urban farming and the environment in Detroit

Monica M. White, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
2009-10 Humanities Center Faculty Fellow

Detroit, in the aftermath of de-industrialization and post-urbanization, represents an example of disharmony with the environment. Such disharmony is manifested in contaminated soil, abandoned houses and empty lots. Detroit is littered with dilapidated and vacant buildings, ruins left behind when manufacturing jobs fled the city. Also illustrative of the abandonment, there exists dramatic disparities among neighborhoods, and uncomfortable social relations among people of different races and classes. In an analysis of the nature and function of gardens both in creating public space and in enabling citizens to renegotiate their relationship with the environment, this project investigates the relationship among people of color, poverty, and community engagement with the natural environment in the city of Detroit. The objective for this research is to examine how citizens of the city of Detroit engage in community gardening as a means of renegotiating their relationship with the environment, eschewing reliance on external political structures to solve community problems and re-creating the city from the bottom up. Through an examination of community gardeners, this research will provide an alternative perspective on the persistent representation of Detroit as a site of urban decay that is in ruins.