Comments on: Detroit Plans Airport City

By: Donald Schwartz

Donald Schwartz — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:15:15 +0000

I understand the concerns of the last three posters. We shouldn’t develop a airport city to the further neglect of Detroit’s urban core. As Mr. Goodspeed outlined in his blog post. The plan should be part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan. The planners should also be careful not to give the aerotropolis too much of a Disney-Like feel. There should be a respect for histories and heritages of the surrounding communities considered by the planners.

The development could be quite a boon to the nearby universities.

Donald M. Schwartz
Ypsilanti, MI
Alumnus of Eastern Michigan University and Wayne State University.

By: Oface

Oface — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:40:47 +0000

Detroit will not gain more with Airport city. Those dollars will stay out in the suburbs which contributes to the main problem. What good does an Airport city do 20-30 miles away from downtown. Especially considering that the primary industries are all auto focused and facing elimination in the next 5-10-15 years. If Detroit doesn’t get its act together and start encouraging entrepeneurship programs for the young creatives, diversify its economic base, and offer sweet development deals for downtown and the industrial districts, non of this will matter…..

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 03:54:45 +0000

Hi Scott- You certainly raise an good point, clearly Detroit needs the investment more than the area by DTW. However, think successfull cities are mutually reinforcing, IE, if a successful urban village is established near the airport and linked to Detroit and Ann Arbor by rail, Detroit will gain more than if the “Airport City” was not established. If anything, the more development is planned along transit, the more people use transit, and the more opportunity there is for development at every point served by the system.

By: Another Scott

Another Scott — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 16:13:08 +0000

A development like this would cause further harm to Detroit and would incxrease the donut effect the region is currently experiencing. Although developers can build where they chose, this region should be trying to rehabilitate the urban core of Detroit. There are serveral underutilized buildings and vacant lots that would be suitable for infill. Detroit, in theory, should be an ideal place for Dr. Florida’s creative class. Then again maybe the creative class follows opportunity rather than creates it.

By: Scott T.

Scott T. — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 23:35:37 +0000

“a 400-room luxury hotel” which they’re apparently having a hard time filling. Lizz and I stayed there super-cheap last time we were in town (for a quick weekend of a wedding and baptism). It was dark and modern on the interior but I really liked it.

I might like to live in an “airport city,” especially if it is dense, transit oriented and the cost of living is significantly lower than other, more desireable places (like NYC or San Fran or Seattle). My line of work is easy to do from anywhere, so the thought of living in a nice, small city very near a major air hub (read: frequently cheap airfare to most places), I’d seriously consider it (spend less on the mortgage, more on the travel).

That said, the easiest way to steer development around transit is to build the damn transit! Just zone for density around stations, put in the lines and start running frequent trains. I guarantee the developers will follow and whoever owns that land will make a killing.