On the former sites of vacant Detroit homes, U-M researchers and their partners have built innovative gardens that help manage stormwater while removing neighborhood blight.
The four new “bioretention gardens” capture and hold stormwater in a subsurface layer of gravel while beautifying the Cody Rouge area on Detroit’s west side.
Led by Joan Nassauer, U-M professor of landscape architecture in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and Assistant Professor Natalie Sampson of the Department of Health and Human Services at UM-Dearborn, the pilot project shows how vacant properties can become green infrastructure that enhances neighborhood quality of life while improving water quality in the Detroit River and the Great Lakes.
