Writing about cities that are made + unmade
“When the dams broke in Midland, Michigan.” Belt Magazine, July 17, 2020.
“Reviving Detroit’s historic Blue Bird Inn.” Belt Magazine, May 22, 2020.
“After a year as a flashpoint, Benton Harbor sees possibility, even amid pandemic.” Crain’s, April 26, 2020.
“Detroit’s health care workers ask: ‘How many lives can we save?‘” With Patricia Anstett, Jonathan Cohn, and Tom Perkins. The Huffington Post + Type Investigations, April, 2020.
“In battle-tested Detroit, neighbors helping each other as coronavirus spreads.” With Sarah Alvarez. Bridge Magazine, March 29, 2020.
“Coronavirus is spreading faster in Detroit than nearly anywhere in the United States.” With Sarah Alvarez, Robin Erb, and Mike Wilkinson. Bridge Magazine, March 25, 2020.
“What happens when you give people cash to move to Detroit?” Detour Detroit, March 5, 2020.
“A Review of Liam McIlvanney’s The Quaker.” Waxwing Literary Review, February 15, 2020.
“‘Broke’ chronicles a city out of cash and awash in desperation.” New York Times Book Review, January 12, 2020.
“Old motels, campsites and shelters fill housing void in Northwest Michigan.” Bridge Magazine, December 16, 2019.
“Think your house is hard to unload? Try selling a prison.” Bridge Magazine, November 12, 2019.
“Clean, affordable drinking water is a racial issue.” Washington Post, September 23, 2019.
“The General Motors century.” New York Times, September 21, 2019.
“Big plan on campus.” Land Lines, September 2019.
“2 Michigan cities are steps apart–but inequality between them runs deep.” Detroit Free Press, June 14, 2019.
“The improbable small business comeback of Flint.” CityLab, April 26, 2019.
“Preserving the legacy of black baseball in Detroit’s Hamtramck Stadium.” CityLab, March 29, 2019.
“The Road to Flint: The Right’s 50-year anti-city agenda.” Public Eye, Winter 2018.
“Detroit: Rebuilt Through giving.” Penta, December 2018.
“A review of Elizabeth Rush’s Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore.” Waxwing Literary Review, October 15, 2018.
“Michigan made Flint’s water crisis worse than it should have been.” Business Insider, August 24, 2018.
“The Poisoned City: Flint’s water and the American urban tragedy.” Next City, July 16, 2018.
“The Poisoned City: Confronting the catastrophe in Flint.” Detroit Free Press, July 15, 2018.
“Who could ever love a river now?” Lapham’s Quarterly, July 12, 2018.
“‘Nothing to worry about. The water is fine.’ How Flint poisoned its people.” The Guardian, July 3, 2018.
“‘An Equal Opportunity Lie’: How Housing Discrimination Led to the Flint Water Crisis.“ Splinter, December 5, 2017.
“Scores of Detroit Schools are Empty Eyesores. Here’s Why it’s so Hard to Bring Them Back to Life.” Chalkbeat, September 20, 2017.
“Confusion Spikes as a Popular Charter School Seeks to Buy an Empty Detroit School Building.” Chalkbeat, September 7, 2017.
“Next Land Bank Director Sees Chance to Make Big Changes in Detroit.” Next City, July 24, 2017.
“Detroit Land Bank Names New Executive Director.” Next City, July 17, 2017.
“A Guide to the 15 Powerful People Charged with Poisoning Flint.” Splinter, June 19, 2017.
“Flint is family: What’s next?” ELLE Magazine, August 8, 2016. (Part of a package with Mattie Kahn and LaToya Ruby Frazier.)
“The city that unpoisoned its pipes.” Next City, August 8, 2016.
“11,341 rapes shelved and forgotten: This is one of them.” ELLE Magazine, June 2016.
“Suing for sidewalks.”
Next City, June 13, 2016.
“From sci-fi to mystery, 6 perfect urbanist summer reads.”
Next City, June 10, 2016.
“Metro Detroit has a $4.6 billion transit decision to make.”
Next City, June 8, 2016.
“Chicago river planning process includes bike, boat rides.”
Next City, May 14, 2016.
“Detroit neighborhood wants new bridge to bring community benefits.” Next City, May 11, 2016.
“Detroit’s choice isn’t jail vs. soccer.”
Next City, April 28, 2016.
“5 revelations about Detroit’s bankruptcy story.”
Next City, April 20, 2016.
“Cities have a role in making sure ‘local food’ is local.”
Next City, April 19, 2016.
“5 beautiful books that belong on every urbanist’s coffee table.”
Next City, March 22, 2016.
“Old sports stadium heads for redevelopment.”
Next City, March 11, 2016.
“Flint prepares to be left behind once more.”
The New Republic, March 3, 2016.
“The unlikely boom of Chicago’s Chinatown.”
Next City, February 22, 2016.
“Fight to preserve historic preservation tools for cities.”
Next City, February 18, 2016.
“The not-so-secret secret about growing a healthy city.”
Next City, February 8, 2016.
“The struggle for accountability in Flint.”
The Boston Review, February 2, 2015.
“Buying a share of Detroit’s revitalization.”
Next City, January 27, 2016.
“Reality TV can’t fix Detroit Public Schools.”
Next City, January 22, 2016.
“Detroit plays matchmaker for city’s entrepreneurs.”
Next City, January 14, 2016.
“6 cities designing for health.” YES Magazine, Winter 2016.
A crowdfunded stadium is coming to Detroit.”
Next City, December 17, 2015.
“16 ideas have raised $3 billion-plus for affordable housing in U.S. cities.”
Next City, December 17, 2015.
“The threat to Detroit’s rebound isn’t crime or the economy. It’s the mortgage industry.”
Next City, December 7, 2015.
“The musicians are creating an Indianapolis soundtrack.”
Next City, December 7, 2015.
“Where can a city turn when the tap water turns poisonous?”
Next City, December 3, 2015.
“Five ways to be the best urbanist gift-giver.”
Next City, November 25, 2015.
“Urban poetry: The best odes to cities.”
Next City, November 6, 2015.
“How an investigative journalist helped prove a city was being poisoned with its own water.”
Columbia Journalism Review, November 3, 2015.
“Renters are getting a stake in Cleveland real estate.”
Next City, October 15, 2015
“Dearborn ditches statue of former mayor.”
Next City, October 9, 2015.
“Will D.C. be the first U.S. city to escape the prison trap?”
Next City, September 28, 2015.
“City planners must practice everyone-based design.”
Next City, September 18, 2015.
“Wichita gets wild with new city park.”
Next City, September 11, 2015.
“Redesigning a prison town.”
Next City, September 4, 2015
“We must not give in to economic segregation.”
Next City, August 22, 2015
“How $500 million turned car-centric Indianapolis into a more walkable city.”
Next City, August 6, 2015.
“Getting inside the Great Outdoors.”
The Architect’s Newspaper, July issue
“What university presses have done for urban design.”
Next City, July 27, 2015
“Why we need to keep the ‘community’ in community colleges.”
Next City, July 13, 2015
“Chicago’s Chinatown plans for successful future.”
Next City, July 6, 2015.
“Why we need to keep covering the foreclosure crisis.”
Columbia Journalism Review, July 2, 2015.
“Pope to urban planners: Build better cities.”
Next City, June 19, 2015
“10 must-read books for urbanists on cities, race, and public space.”
Next City, June 9, 2015
“How the zombie housing crisis mutated and what cities are doing about it.”
Next City, May 29, 2015
“Why cities need to get smarter about property taxes.”
Next City, May 19, 2015.
“An insider’s cultural guide to Detroit: The Motor City moves on.”
The Guardian, May 18, 2015.
“High Line consultants hired to reinvent historic Detroit park.”
Next City, May 8, 2015
“Why Chicago is claiming bike-share bragging rights.”
Next City. April 30, 2015
“Poet Marge Piercy recalls Detroit upbringing in new book.”
Detroit Free Press. April 19, 2015
“Detroit Red Wings plan hangs on City Council decision on parking, historic preservation.”
Next City. April 6, 2015
“Detroit’s astonishing idea for how to solve the backlog of its untested rape kits.”
Next City. March 26, 2015
“Packard: The Last Shift.”
Detroit Free Press. March 20, 2015
“Ann Arbor shoots for affordable housing goals in a big college town.”
Next City. March 4, 2015.
“Designing for the dead: The perfect city cemetery.”
Next City. March 2, 2015.
“Slower speed limits give cities a new attitude about biking, walking, breathing.”
Next City. February 26, 2015
“The inclusive suburb: Southfield’s long history of intentional integration.”
Metromode. February 19, 2015
Louisville fight for historic preservation is at a turning point.
Next City. January 23, 2015
Teach kids about life in the big city with these 10 great picture books.
Next City. January 9, 2015.
How to make dreams of turning Houston Astrodome into a park come true.
Next City. January 6, 2015
Meet the reporter who broke the Philadelphia civil forfeiture story–two years ago.
Columbia Journalism Review. December 10, 2014
10 great novels every urbanist should read.
Next City. December 1, 2014
A literary tour of Detroit.
Model D. November 18, 2014
Detroit magnate decides he doesn’t want 6,000 blighted Detroit properties after all.
Next City. November 5, 2014
Arson investigators yet to unravel fire at Detroit’s First Unitarian Church.
Metro Times. October 29-November 5, 2014 issue
East Jefferson corridor draws investors despite challenges.
Crain’s Detroit Business. October 19, 2014
Making the renters vs. homeowners competition a thing of the past.
Next City. September 29, 2014
Creative ways cities are pushing recycling.
Next City. September 2, 2014
This woman has a solution to America’s pension problem.
Next City. Forefront feature. September 1, 2014
Do ‘One Book’ programs make a city read?
Next City. August 28, 2014
Will ‘blexting’ help with Detroit’s blight?
Next City. July 28, 2014
Detroit pensioners voted for self-sacrifice; we should remember that.
Next City. July 22, 2014
The nerd who’s trying to save Detroit.
POLITICO Magazine. July 6, 2014
Going without water in Detroit.
The New York Times. July 4, 2014
Living without water in Detroit.
Next City. July 3, 2014
Mystery in Detroit: Was pop-up store event successful or not?
Next City. June 17, 2014
Detroit, Michigan: It’s so cool in the D.
BUST Magazine. June/July issue
Is participatory budgeting real democracy?
Next City. Forefront feature. April 28, 2014
Detroit: A city made of many voices.
Belt Magazine. April 18, 2014
Kalamazoo quietly emerging as a literary hot spot.
Detroit Free Press. March 23, 2014.
The Lone Star Progressive: Annise Parker sells Houston on brass tacks urbanism.
Next City. Forefront feature. March 10, 2014
Detroit’s false choice: Foundational bailouts could save both art and pensions.
Next City. January 16, 2014.