Greening the Black Urban Regime: the Culture and Commerce of Sustainability in Detroit

Alesia Montgomery’s Greening the Black Urban Regime: The Culture and Commerce of Sustainability in Detroit tells the story of the struggle to shape green redevelopment in Detroit. Cultural workers, envisioning a green city crafted by direct democracy, had begun to draw idealistic young newcomers to Detroit’s street art and gardens. Then a billionaire developer and private foundations hired international consultants to redesign downtown and to devise a city plan. Using the justice-speak of cultural workers, these consultants did innovative outreach, but they did not enable democratic deliberation. The Detroit Future City plan won awards, and the new green venues in the gentrified downtown have gotten good press. However, low-income black Detroiters have little ability to shape "greening" as uneven development unfolds and poverty persists.

Montgomery, Alesia. Greening the Black Urban Regime: The Culture and Commerce of Sustainability in Detroit. Wayne State University Press, 2020. https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/greening-black-urban-regime.