Motor City Green: A Century of Landscapes and Environmental Change in Detroit (Paperback)

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by Joseph Stanhope Cialdella (Author)

Winner, 2021 CCL J. B. Jackson Book Prize Winner, 2020 Jon Gjerde Prize from the Midwestern History Association

Motor City Green is a history of green spaces in metropolitan Detroit from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century that focuses on the creation and use of parks, gardens, yards, and other designed landscapes. Joseph Stanhope Cialdella argues that generations of residents and communities in the region turned to these outdoor spaces to relieve problems created by the city’s industrial rise and decline, racial segregation, and economic inequality. As Detroit continues toward a green future, Motor City Green looks to the past to demonstrate how the city’s urban gardens of today evolved from, but are also distinct from, the urban green spaces that came before them.

Author Biography

Joseph Stanhope Cialdella is assistant director for experiential learning at the University of Michigan and an independent scholar.

Number of Pages: 246 Publication Date: March 17, 2026

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