There have been a multitude of well-intentioned people throughout the course of recorded history. Creative thinkers and tinkerers, connectors and collectors, striving to leave their mark on humankind.

Many have left behind unimaginable legacies, created systems and tangible goods that still remain important long after they walk the earth. While I believe in credit where credit is due, I also believe in telling the full story, diving deep and speaking honestly about our past.

I have been revisiting the theme of “Intention is different than Impact” frequently the last several months. While it is widely applicable, Detroit has been shaped (for better or worse) by good intentions. Those intentions, though they may have seemed wholesome or well-informed, often had adverse impacts on part or all of the community.

Let’s wind back to 1701: Cadillac’s best intentions to create a thriving permanent settlement at Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit was thwarted by his own greed, lack of knowledge, and lack of leadership. Not only did the settlement suffer under his command, but this continued French Colonialism in the Great Lakes Region that would create tension and division between Native Americans. That tension and division still exists in many ways today. For example, the lack of a Native American Museum or festival further speaks to the carelessness of Cadillac, and disregard for those established in this region before him.

Fast forward to 1805: Judge Augustus Woodward arrives three days after all but one building in Detroit burned to the ground. Being a fan of city design, Woodward hastily copies Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s Spoke-And-Wheel layout from Paris and Washington D.C. and presents it to Detroit. The citizens altogether hate it (especially the main road’s name), yet Woodward pushes forth, adding to one of the many competing roadway systems in Southeast Michigan. A plan meant to be replicated many times over finds its only partial completion downtown. A quick look at Grand Circus Park’s semicircle meant to be fully realized is one of the most visually striking pieces of proof.

Zip along to 1908: Henry Ford perfects his Model T and by 1914, offers the astonishing $5 a day wage. This corporate giant, however, was anything but a saint. Yes, the affordable automobile changed the speed and convenience at which we travel. However, with the creation of the Interstate Highway System, subsequent widening of roads, and eventual suburbanization of America, convenience gave way to separation, isolation, and unsustainable infrastructure for future growth and prosperity. While the negative effects are evident in Detroit, our country designed around the car (instead of the person) can be difficult to reimagine and reel back a century afterword. That doesn’t delve into the corporate prying into workers private lives’ to receive the $5 a day wage, overt racial bias Ford used to draw Metro-Detroit’s city boundaries, or his intense Anti-Semitism before and during WWII.

Three examples of powerful white men that would be easy to praise for their conquest, planning, and revolutionary thinking. What great intentions, what noble undertakings, we might say. Fortunately, we know better.

I fear we have another Cadillac, Woodward, or Ford among us today. Is it Gilbert? Duggan? You or I? Time will tell I suppose. We must recognize these and similar past mistakes, keeping in mind that “Intention is different than Impact”. In doing so, we have the opportunity to avoid some of our forefathers’ follies, in favor of a more informed, strategic, and empathetic framework for the future of Detroit.