Neoliberal Urbanism and Education Reform: An Examination of the Detroit Future City Strategic Framework

• In Event: Space and Place in Urban Educational Policy: Restructuring, Consolidation, and Gentrification

Abstract

This article critiques the Detroit Future City (DFC) strategic framework addressing urban land use in the city over the next few decades. This article employs critical policy analysis to examine the discursive relationships and show how the DFC project is situated within neoliberal ethos and aims at spatially restructuring the city and its schools. The neighborhood element of the framework, in particular, is problematized for its exacerbation of the spatial polarization of Detroit along race and class identities. Findings suggest the framework is an attempt to remove and re-move Communities of Colors and low-income communities out of the city. I urge neoliberal urbanism research to acknowledge the spatial specificities and manifestations of market-driven urban, social, and education policies.

Author

• DeMarcus Antonio Jenkins, University of California - Los Angeles