Book launch: Why Detroit Matters: Decline, renewal and hope in a divided city.

You are invited to the book launch and presentation of the new edited volume Why Detroit Matters: Decline, renewal and hope in a divided city published by Policy Press and edited by Brian Doucet.

Detroit has come to symbolise deindustrialization and the challenges, and opportunities, it presents. As many cities struggle with urban decline, racial and ethnic tensions and the consequences of neoliberal governance and political fragmentation, Detroit’s relevance grows stronger. Why Detroit Matters bridges academic and non-academic responses to this extreme example of a fractured and divided, post-industrial city.

During this presentation, Brian Doucet (Erasmus University College) will introduce the book and its main findings and insights.

Joining us in Rotterdam:

• Drew Philp, who purchased an abandoned house in Detroit for 500 US Dollar, renovated it and turned it into his home
• Expodium, the Utrecht-based urban ‘do tank’ who organised an artists-in-residency program in Detroit

Joining us via Skype from Detroit

• Josh Akers, Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Michigan-Dearborn
• Jackie Victor, co-founder of Avalon International Breads
• Malik Yakini, executive director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network

This event is free, but registration is required. You can send an email to: doucet@euc.eur.nl to reserve your place

If you wish to purchase a copy of the book for a discounted price of 20 Euros, please also email this request before 5 April to doucet@euc.eur.nl

For more information on the book, visit www.detroit-matters.com