Week 7 – Detroit Community-Engaged Research Program

Week 7

One of the most notable experiences that I’ve had occurred after reading “How to Kill a City” and learning about how many skyscrapers Dan Gilbert owns, and how much influence he has over the politics of the city. We were walking by Campus Martius and I looked up and thought about how Dan Gilbert owns a majority of the buildings within my field of vision at that moment. To own that kind of property and wealth seems almost unreal to me. It’s an even more unusual feeling knowing that the process of acquiring his wealth hurt many original residents of the city of Detroit. 

I think this experience was also memorable because it made me understand that while thousands of people moving into the city are the noticeable aspects of gentrification, the start of gentrification was essentially just the city fulfilling the wishes of Dan Gilbert and other billionaires. It seems like such an absurd amount of influence to give to a small group of individuals, especially when the consequences of the decisions they make affect such a large number of people. 

Another interesting aspect of this experience was that after seeing all of the property that Dan Gilbert owns and the effect that his ownership of those buildings has had, it only seems logical to demonize him and call him out for his selfish ways. And while that may be the right thing to do, it’s also worth noting that in 2012 he joined The Giving Pledge which is a pledge to give half of their wealth to philanthropic causes. While this likely will steal leave Gilbert with an absurd amount of money it’s still a notable donation and an interesting decision for him to make as compared to his other more selfish business decisions.

1 thought on “Week 7”

  1. It makes me wonder if he’s like a real person with real human morals. I wander what it would be like to make him take a lie-detector test and find out about his true self

Comments are closed.

lsa logoum logo