Liberty and Security in an Austere City: Security Politics and Urban Restructuring in Post-Bankruptcy Detroit

Detroit’s experience with emergency management and municipal bankruptcy has been the subject of intense public and academic scrutiny. Yet, few have explored how this moment of intense urban restructuring helped to reinforce security as a vital pillar of the city’s revitalization strategy. In response to this gap in scholarship, this dissertation explores highly experimental, post-bankruptcy securitization efforts with an empirical focus on the origins and growth of the city’s ‘real-time’ crime fighting initiatives and a city-wide CCTV initiative called Project Green Light. Formally introduced in 2016 as a ‘public-private-community’ partnership, Project Green Light involves a voluntary agreement whereby participating businesses agree to fund the installation and maintenance of cameras on their premises that can be actively monitored in real-time by the Detroit Police Department. In exchange, Project Green Light partners are promised prioritized police response and enhanced police presence. Conceiving of Project Green Light as a form of speculative security, this dissertation examines how the program has expanded despite conclusive evidence of its efficacy, numerous controversies surrounding its objectives and rollout, and resistance from community residents and grassroots organizers. The study draws from a large selection of documents as well as interviews with Project Green Light participants and neighborhood residents in order to explore perceptions and experiences of the program. In doing so, this dissertation unravels the contested politics around speculative visions of security and surveillance that have been intimately bound up in efforts to remake the City of Detroit.