Metro Detroit Vibrancy Mapping
A Millennial Mayors Congress Initiative
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In our 2010 Millennial Engagement Survey, we asked metro Detroit residents aged 18-35, “What places do you most like to visit in southeast Michigan in your free time?” Here are all their responses, mapped out. Fun that you can see trends emerge in “vibrant” cities and along corridors like Woodward Ave.
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“To really know a place, you have to walk it.”
This imaginary walking tour of Pittsburgh attempts to highlight both the good and bad of the city. The title picture (above) doesn’t actually appear to be related to the article, but one can infer that both are trying to tell us that, in order to really know what a city is—what it looks like, who lives there, what you can eat, how it sounds—you have to dig a little deeper than the traditional visitors or asset map.
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From the Daily Mail, this shows New York’s morning commute.
- Orange = ferries
- Green, purple and red = commuter rail
- Blue = buses
Other maps in the attached article show the US electricity network, job losses and pizza routes.
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The Millennial Mayors Congress’s vibrancy mapping pilot projects have officially launched this summer! Here’s a quick update for those of you following along at home.
Hamtramck
We’re currently creating surveys to be circulated around town that will ask young people: Why are you in Hamtramck today? Why this bar or restaurant or public space? We’re also looking for a platform that will allow the final vibrancy map to have capacity for an almost infinite number of filters or layers for amenities and information.
Madison Heights
The Madison Heights rep is coordinating with City and WalkScore.com staff to compile a list of all businesses within city limits and convert it to a format that’s uploadable to Walk Score. Once that’s done, we’re planning a publicity campaign to highlight the city’s walkability.
Roseville
Focusing on Gratiot Avenue, we’ll survey young people to identify places for young families to eat, meet and hang out. Our first planned outreach is at the Roseville fireworks, on June 23! Our booth will survey Millennials and have an interactive activity where children (and their parents) can craft their own ideal city out of boxes.
Southgate
We’ve already started circulating our Southgate Vibrancy Mapping survey, and have heard from a number of Millennials about where they like to go in Southgate and how they city could be made more vibrant. We’re now shortening the survey so it can be placed in local bars and restaurants.
Ypsilanti
The Ypsi reps are finalizing a survey that will identify and collect information about all the best places in Ypsilanti. We’re still searching for a web- or app-savvy person to help create an interactive trip-planning tool.
At our last administrative meeting, we identified a few key questions we need to answer before moving forward, and we invite your input now:- What should we show in our maps?
- How do we decide which places to include?
- What are the operational capacities our maps should have?
- How do we turn data into maps and apps?
Thoughts? Put ‘em in the comments.
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Photoset reblogged from fuck yeah cartography!
London hand-drawn map by Jenni Sparks
“London by Hand” is a hand-drawn map of London, created by British artist Jenni Sparks for London-based art print producers Evermade. Based on a geographic map of the London metro system, the print replicates the streets, neighborhoods, and landmarks of the city, as well as highlighting lesser-known, quirkier shops, museums, and tidbits of local history. The birthplaces of british celebrities and locations of local markets are among the information depicted in hand-drawn letters and sketches. Jenni Sparks worked for two months to complete the map, which is sold here on the Evermade shop.
(Source: sunrec)
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From The Atlantic Cities (and originally from The Atlas), an exploration of how we classify urban and suburban development. This map shows home ownership, journey to work, and one-family houses.
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The Detroit Works Project Long-Term Planning released this graphic displaying Detroit neighborhood conditions, based on economy, physical condition, people, and more. What does this graphic say about these neighborhoods? What decisions can really be made based on this?
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We’ve officially decided which vibrancy mapping projects we’ll be piloting this summer across metro Detroit! Our plans include surveys, Walk Score, visitors maps, map-drawing meetings and more. Read more about it at the longer blog post, above.
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The Start Garden, an online start-up contest that looks similar to Hatch Detroit, houses this idea for an interactive wayfinding kiosk highlighting things to do in downtown Grand Rapids.
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How do we define the places within Detroit? This HuffPost Detroit piece from Timothy Boscarino explores the business of putting names and boundaries to Detroit’s neighborhoods.
