Detroit's barren blocks offer a chance to reinvent the city

Detroit used to hold 2 million people. Now the city is somewhere around 900,000. That's a lot of vacancy and, also, a lot of opportunity to reinvent Detroit.

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"What if a lot of the vacant land was allowed to begin to become green?" Pitera said. "Could Detroit truly become the greenest city in the United States?"

This abundance of vacant land has people talking about new uses, such as urban farming, reforesting the city, and large-scale recreational areas. Urban farming is getting the most buzz. Michigan State University's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is among the groups touting urban farms as a solution for Detroit's vacant land.

"Given the amount of open land, I think there's a real opportunity for Detroit to provide a significant amount of its fruits and vegetables for its population and the surrounding area," said Mike Hamm, the C.S. Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture at MSU.

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