Failing industrial cities have left behind a legacy of social, economic, and environmental decline, the aftermath includes cities who have experienced departing residents, decaying infrastructure, and urban blight. Leaving this once-thriving land to become vacant and unused. Although there are many contributing factors to degradation, for cities such as Detroit, MI, the predominant reason for its decline was the departure of the automotive industry, and a failing economy which led to unemployment. Given the loss of population and lack of funding, much of the Detroit area’s infrastructure has become vacant, and due to previous heavy industrial use, some of the lots have turned into brownfields. These sites that contain hazardous substances such as: arsenic, asbestos, lead, petroleum, hydrocarbons, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), and Volatile Organic Compounds (EPA). Post-industrial cities are not equipped to handle the repercussions of vacancies. Additionally, there is a lack of understanding in regard to the terms “vacant land” and “brownfield”, and within academic literature, there seems to be no definitive definition or difference between the two. Previous researchers, academic articles, city building codes, and other official documents have their own unique way of defining vacant land, and many interchange the term with brownfield. Within the realm of this research, brownfields are considered a sub-category of vacant land; one that poses more severe stressors to adjacent neighborhoods. Thus, this research adopts a case study approach, where it focuses on safely reconstructing the economic, social, and environmental health of communities by creating an ecological design matrix based on the landscape ecology principles of design; and applying those elements to the 80” Hot Mill company, located in River Rouge, MI, United States. The site is located south of the city and offers an extensive opportunity for ecological re-design through quantitatively applying landscape performance research to assess the impacts of the proposed design. Furthermore, the poverty-stricken community would benefit from a rehabilitated site that is able to support their current needs. The quantitative research methods applied in this study was to create a master plan for the case study site by adopting ecological design principles and evaluating the impacts by applying landscape performance research and measuring their benefits of environmental, social, and economic effects. The post-design metrics show positive environmental outputs such as the reduction of carbon sequestration, air pollution elements, waste from the site, and an increase in the retention of stormwater. The social impacts measured showed favorable outcomes which included visual quality, safety features, the addition of recreational and gathering spaces, as well as bike lanes and pedestrian walking paths. Economically, improvements have been seen in stormwater maintenance costs and energy savings. The findings from this research aim to help future designers and planners in implementing ecological principles within their designs and optimize restoration processes.
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