Owen McAlister-Lopez – Detroit Community-Engaged Research Program

Owen McAlister-Lopez

Week 8: The Conner Creek Greenway (not the same as the Joe Louis Greenway!) …. And more 

The project I was assigned at the Nortown Community Development Corporation (NCDC) was an investigation into the Conner Creek Greenway (CCG). In short, the CCG is a bike trail that extends from the northeast corner of Detroit all the way down to the riverfront park, Maheras-Gentry Park. It follows the historic trail of the Conner …

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Week Seven: Lessons From Our Guest Speakers

All of our guest speakers have impressed me with their knowledge and work. I have appreciated learning about the history of Detroit as well as its current challenges and the countless groups attempting to provide some kind of solution to them. Raquel Garcia, the Executive Director of Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, has stood out in …

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Week Four: How to Kill a City

P.E. Moskowitz’s How to Kill a City recounts Detroit’s changes over time. It explains the policies and movements that led to the red-lining of urban neighborhoods, encouraged suburbia, emptied and economically destroyed cities, and initiated the process of “revitalization” that commonly signifies gentrification. Moskowitz is relatively brief in explaining these various stages in urban history, …

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Week 2: Becoming Acquainted with the Nortown CDC

The Nortown Community Development Corporation (NCDC) is a non-profit organization with many different projects. The corporation has ninety-five affordable housing units that are managed and rented, heads projects to restore historical landmarks like the Norris House and the Conner Creek and organizes many community development projects to build parks and business associations. On any typical …

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Week 1 Blog

Hello all! I’m Owen. Next fall, I’ll be a junior in LSA with a double major in Organizational Studies and Environmental Studies. I’m professionally interested in issues relating to urbanism, public/shared space and public transportation. My hometown is Ann Arbor, so I’ve grown up living next to and hearing all about Detroit, but I haven’t …

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