Demolition-only urban policy leads to economic and social isolation.

The past two years have seen more than 10,000 homes demolished in Detroit, Michigan. Such demolition policies which have no follow-up plans for development have gone from being controversial to the norm. In new research, Jason Hackworth questions the logic and practice of these policies, finding that the neighborhoods which have had the most demolitions are more economically and socially isolated than they were in 1970. He argues that vacant lots can be a negative force on nearby house values, and that cleared sites never attract the kind of investment money that a derelict house might.