“To allow farming is to give up on the city”: Political anxieties related to the disposition of vacant land for urban agriculture in Detroit

Abstract

ABSTRACTDetroit has a vibrant urban agriculture movement as well as an abundance of vacant land, much of which has come into city ownership through foreclosure. Despite the presence of a land bank and a supportive agricultural ordinance, growers struggle to gain long-term access to and ownership of land on which to farm. Using in-depth interviews with growers and their advocates, community development experts, and city and land bank officials, I discuss the specific challenges that urban growers face and related anxieties communicated by city and land bank officials. Anxieties include commonly held perceptions of the polarity between “urban” and “agriculture,” as well as a fear that agriculture may not last. In the absence of an updated master plan, another anxiety relates to land disposition serving as the de facto vision for the city’s future. These anxieties reflect the dominance of growth regime frameworks in current governance. I outline the elements of an alternative framework that weaves together agriculture and redevelopment and discuss its prospects at least for the near term.