Urban Affairs

Mayor Mike Duggan’s Department of Neighborhoods measures success in vacant-lot sales, cleanups and complaints answered.

Michigan Radio asked photographer Ali Lapetina to traverse Detroit one day; she returned with this gallery of a city in motion

When a fence went up around a cherished community park, residents thought gentrification might be the culprit. But it turns out a neighborhood development group is making the park better.

Thousands of positions in construction, healthcare, information technology and other high-growth fields are finally coming as Detroit emerges from bankruptcy. But a rollback in job programs and an educational system that leaves many young adults short on reading and math skills means many Detroiters can’t even quality for job training.

Detroit Public Schools once served thousands of students daily at vocational -technical career centers. Declining enrollment and high school closures led to cuts. DPS is now re-inventing the trade schools.

A sparkling baseball diamond for kids is rounding into shape on Detroit’s west side, a $1.4 million neighborhood gift from UAW-Ford.

In a Belgian hangout on the east side, players of an obscure game say farewell to a beloved league member.

A failed industrial zone is cleared out and buffed up for market sale.

The Forest Arms, the grande dame of apartments in Detroit’s Midtown, is being reborn from its burned-out grave. At age 109, there is much work to be done. But geothermal wells?

The sudden closing this summer of a road leading from Detroit into Grosse Pointe Park reignited accusations that Detroit’s largely African-American and poor population was not welcome. Residents on both sides are pushing for change.

The Motor City was designed for residents who buy and drive cars and trucks. But those planning Detroit’s future envision a design that is more friendly and safe for pedestrians, bikers and people using public transportation.

Is gentrification a bad thing? Is it even happening downtown? The answers depend on your perspective, and perhaps your bank account.

Detroit’s downtown areas are being transformed by an influx of new people and businesses. Here’s a guide to some key developments.

What is this thing called gentrification – displacement or improvement?

It is impossible to accept that the lives of Detroiters and newcomers are equal when the majority of the city’s African-American population are experiencing a quality of life so low that the United Nations is speaking up.

Yes, the infusion of new money, new faces and new business to downtown Detroit is good for the city.

The DFD’s current system is 128 years old and resisted change for decades, but bankruptcy was able to overturn what the city’s mayors couldn’t.

High taxes, low wages, yet the City of Detroit still drowns in debt. Here’s why the city faces long odds even after shedding bankruptcy debt.

Bankruptcy could offer an opportunity to trim taxes for the city’s beleaguered residents, who pay some of the highest income, utility and property taxes in the state.

Detroit is in the middle of the pack among the 51 international cities studied for how much of a tax burden they place on businesses.