Detroit neighborhoods that survived the subprime mortgage crisis and recession had something special in common: community.
Margaret Dewar and Lan Deng, both professors of urban and regional planning at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, studied three Detroit neighborhoods.
They found that those under the leadership of a community development corporation, along with volunteer efforts, weathered the city’s housing crisis better than the rest.
“This is evidence of what works,” Dewar said. “With volunteers, you can affect the strength of the real estate.”
