Brightmoor Neighborhood Plan

Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood has been experiencing population decline for more than 30 years. McKenna worked in collaboration with AAB Development Strategies LLC to create a comprehensive strategy to manage the decline, provide opportunity for new development, and protect intact neighborhoods in a sustainable manner.

Key plan recommendations included:

• Reducing the ownership red tape and using the Detroit Land Bank to get public control of land
• Demolishing over 2,000 housing units
• Establishing a homesteading program
• Right-sizing public infrastructure by eliminating public streets and blocks
• Re-locating a major thoroughfare, to increase traffic and the viability of a key commercial corridor

GIS was used extensively to create maps illustrating housing and neighborhood physical conditions, ownership, demographic data, and land uses. The data-driven GIS analysis of the neighborhood served as basis for the policies and recommendations of the plan.