At the beginning of September I posted an entry on The Freep’s John Gallagher’s forthcoming book Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City. Today online, The Detroit Free Press posted another excerpt from the book that I thought was worth sharing for those who hadn’t swung around to the Freep’s website yet to see it.

The topic of the excerpt focuses on what Detroit could, and very well should, become going forward: greener and more navigable by foot by way of a more densely populated urban center.

Densely packed urban neighborhoods attract retailers, so a city that builds up its healthier districts and connects them with greenways would be one where residents can find much more of what they need close at hand. Right now, shopping requires Detroiters to get in their cars and drive miles to find the stores they favor.

As the nation struggles to cope with rising global temperatures and soaring fuel prices, Detroit may emerge as the city that figured it out first — how to use its open lands to foster a local food economy, how to create a network of greenways that permits its residents to park their vehicles, how to help community-based entrepreneurs create a financial safety margin for a city once yoked to global economic swings.

You can click on over to Freep.com here to read the entire excerpt from Gallagher’s book. I’m not dropping an hints or anything but I think this book would make a great stocking stuffer this Christmas.

Picture courtesy of Freep.com/Susan Tusa (2007)