Urban Gardening in Detroit – On Urban Reinvention and Nature.

Abstract

This thesis studies the influence of urban gardening initiatives in Detroit on the lives of its participants and the neighborhoods that it takes place in. It does so by comparing different urban reinvention initiatives and strategies to urban gardening in terms of social mobility, power relations and their ability to contribute to a long-term solution for the city of Detroit. This thesis also explores what urban gardening and other urban reinvention strategies say about the relationship between humans and nature, which it places in a larger historical context of American thinking about nature. It also explores how nature can play a role in urban reinvention. Finally, this thesis provides a suggestion for successful reinvention of the city.