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The Conversation

Highlighting emerging research and expert analysis on issues important to Detroit and Michigan.

Part of a pilot project funded by the Knight Foundation.

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Square pallets of plastic recycling waste sit on a dock at a recycling facility.

Making fuels from plastics in Newaygo, Michigan, would be controversial – here’s why

Anne McNeil, University of Michigan; Aleksandr V. Zhukhovitskiy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Yutan Getzler, Kenyon College

I studied ShotSpotter in Chicago and Kansas City – here’s what people in Detroit and the more than 167 other cities and towns using this technology should know

Eric L. Piza, Northeastern University

A black gun sits next to a bright yellow evidence marker.
A short history of the rise, fall and return of Detroit’s Michigan Central Station

Mila Puccini, Wayne State University and Jeffrey Horner, Wayne State University

Large building with windows stands against gray sky.
Michigan’s thousands of farmworkers are unprotected, poorly paid, uncounted and often exploited

Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos, University of Michigan and Alexis J. Handal, University of Michigan

A man stands away fomr the camera with a box of grapes on his head in a grape vinery.
Detroit’s legacy of housing inequity has caused long-term health impacts − these policies can help mitigate that harm

Roshanak Mehdipanah, University of Michigan; Kate Brantley, University of Michigan, and Melika Belhaj, University of Michigan

Multicolored 1920s-era rowhouses appear on a sunny day in Detroit.

Hello Readers! Our local team wants to hear your feedback and story ideas. Send an email to Emily Costello, Director of Local News + Collaborations, and Detroit Editor Nina Ignaczak at detroit@theconversation.com.

MI Politics

Why the cost of water for poor Black Detroit voters may be key to Kamala Harris winning – or losing – Michigan

Ronald Brown, Wayne State University and R. Khari Brown, Wayne State University

Protesters march in the streets of Detroit carrying a sign that says "Black & Brown Detroit Votes Count"
Biden and Trump will fight for Michigan’s votes county by county in a state where little things matter a lot

Dante Chinni, Michigan State University

Three women wearing head scarves and masks, at a voting station.
More than 100K Michigan voters pick ‘uncommitted’ over Biden − does that matter for November?

Michael Traugott, University of Michigan

Three voters appear from the back at voting booths.
Michigan Gov. Whitmer proposes a caregiver tax credit − an idea many Americans support

Sarah E. Patterson, University of Michigan and Adriana Reyes, Cornell University

Woman embraces elderly man from behind.

Environment

After a pandemic pause, Detroit restarts water shut-offs – part of a nationwide trend as costs rise

Elizabeth Mack, Michigan State University; Edward Helderop, University of California, Riverside, and Tony Grubesic, University of California, Riverside

A Black man wearing a baseball cap uses a long tool in front of a modest brick home.
Losing winter ice is changing the Great Lakes food web – here’s how light is shaping life underwater

Steven Wilhelm, University of Tennessee; Brittany Zepernick, University of Tennessee, and Robert Michael McKay, University of Windsor

Thin ice near a lighthouse.
Detroiters more likely to support local solar power development if they think it reduces energy prices for their community

Douglas Bessette, Michigan State University and Jacob White, Michigan State University

Rows of solar panels stand in Detroit, Michigan.
How ghost streams and redlining’s legacy lead to unfairness in flood risk, in Detroit and elsewhere

Jacob Napieralski, University of Michigan-Dearborn

A flooded street in Detroit is shown.

Public safety and equity

woman with arms crossed in lab setting with many workers in PPE

Wastewater surveillance reveals pathogens in Detroit’s population, helping monitor and predict disease outbreaks since 2017

Irene Xagoraraki, Michigan State University

Michigan mother convicted of manslaughter for school shootings by her son – after buying him a gun and letting him keep it unsecured

Thaddeus Hoffmeister, University of Dayton

A white woman has her wrists bound in a chain as she walks between two law enforcement officers.
90% of Michigan state troopers are white − why making the force more representative is a challenge

Ann Marie Ryan, Michigan State University

A small group of police officers, most of them white, gather near a police car and police bicycles.
When people are under economic stress, their pets suffer too – we found parts of Detroit that are animal welfare deserts

Laura A. Reese, Michigan State University

A white dog peers out from a makeshift shelter
Michigan selects its legislative redistricting commissioners the way the ancient Athenians did

John Rothchild, Wayne State University

Men wearing baseball caps sit in chairs and hold up signs that read "FAIR MAPS NOW!" and "NO EXCUSES."

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Detroit media! Reach out to learn more about how to republish our content, request stories, data visualizations or expert sources to enrich your reporting -- or share your out-of-the-box idea for teaming up. You can reach our local team at detroit@theconversation.com. We have photos to share, too!

Meet our Detroit team

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Monica Williams, Detroit Editor

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Emily Costello, Director of Collaborations + Local News

Recent media pickups

Michigan State University’s Douglas Bessette and Jacob White in Planet Detroit
Headline in Planet Detroit reads "Detroiters more likely to support local solar power development if they think it reduces energy prices for their community"
University of Michigan’s Roshanak Mehdipanah, Kate Brantley and Melika Belhaj in The Michigan Chronicle
Headline in the Michigan Chronicle reads "Detroit’s Legacy of Housing Inequity Has Caused Long-Term Health Impacts − These Policies Can Help Mitigate That Harm"
University of Michigan’s Roshanak Mehdipanah in U.S. News and World Report
Headline in U.S. News & World Report reads "How to Curb the Harm Caused by Detroit’s Legacy of Housing Inequity"

Local industry

Beyond Seinfeld’s ‘Unfrosted’ – lessons from Michigan’s serial cereal entrepreneurs

Beyond Seinfeld’s ‘Unfrosted’ – lessons from Michigan’s serial cereal entrepreneurs

Laurel Ofstein, Michigan State University

People wearing red t-shirts and carrying 'UAW on strike' placards walk in a circle near a reflective puddle.

Why the UAW union’s tough bargaining strategy is working

Marick Masters, Wayne State University

A sea of people wearing red shirts are shown rallying in an open space in Detroit. One prominently displays a blue sign that reads "UNITED FOR A STRONG CONTRACT"; behind him, another carries a UAW sign.

US autoworkers launch historic strike: 3 questions answered

Joshua Murray, Vanderbilt University

More stories

Grafitti on a wall reads 'Techno is Black music.'

How Detroit techno is preserving the city’s beating heart in the face of gentrification

Carla Vecchiola, University of Michigan-Dearborn

In a school gym, teenage girls wear white basketball uniforms. Several of the girls have their hair covered by a white scarf.

A brief history of Dearborn, Michigan – the first Arab-American majority city in the US

Sally Howell, University of Michigan-Dearborn and Amny Shuraydi, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Two men in winter coats carry a third man who has been injured.

Remembering the 1932 Ford Hunger March: Detroit park honors labor and environmental history

Paul Draus, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Thank you to our local university partners