Brownfield survey conducted in Southwest Detroit

About 30 students from the University of Michigan’s Taubman Center or Architecture and Urban Planning descended onto Southwest Detroit to investigate 33 brownfield sites last weekend. The action, in collaboration with the Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, was meant to log the needs of each of these sites as far as fencing and signage goes.

The goal of the project is to keep children from playing from these open and unsafe brownfield sties. The project was spearheaded by Larissa Larsen, assistant UM professor in the Urban and Regional Studies program, and Andrew Broderick, a master’s student. “The sites are contaminated with heavy metals, former electronic plating facilities, and all kinds of industrial sludge,” Larsen says. And, like most vacant lots in Detroit, these sites also are prone to illegal dumping.

Once the list is prioritized, organized, and mapped it will go to SDEV. “Southwest Detroit Environment Vision has a small amount of funders in place to put up fencing and signage,” Larsen says.

Larsen says the compiled list will be the most comprehensive brownfield assessment of the area. “You should see a difference on these sites in the next six months,” she says.

Source: Larissa Larsen, assistant professor at UM in the Urban and regional Studies program and Andrew Broderick, a master’s student of the program
Writer: Terry Parris Jr.