Participatory “Demolition Planning” in Flint, Michigan

We present a case study—from the Genesee County Land Bank Authority (GCLBA) in Flint, Michigan—of how a public entity can engage in participatory “demolition planning” to address a large-scale vacant property problem in a legacy/shrinking city. Our presentation outlines how the GCLBA used residents’ responses to a survey about demolition priorities to create an algorithm that assigns demolition scores to blighted properties, with higher scores indicating greater priority for demolition. The GLBCA process showed that residents’ top priority was to demolish blighted properties adjacent to occupied properties. Fire-damaged properties, blighted properties in proximity to schools, and blighted properties located in highly occupied neighborhoods were also high priorities. We discuss the implications of these findings and how other communities can adapt and improve upon the GCLBA’s surveying and algorithm creation efforts to better plan for demolitions. We will also discuss the pros and cons of prioritizing some factors more than others when making demolition decisions, including the potential land use and social justice implications. We view our work as an invitation to policymakers in other cities to ask their residents what should be demolished and why, to form a more generalizable narrative of demolition priorities and practices beyond Flint.