Check out this “selfie” at The Detroit Industry fresco by Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, was a tribute to the city’s manufacturing base and labor force of the 1930’s (see link attached to learn more).
Last week, we started to talk about our firm being located in Detroit, and we wanted to expand this week on the great transformation and specifically the best parts of what is happening in the 2015 UNESCO Creative Cities Network ‘City of Design’. Detroit is the only American city with this prestigious designation.
We know that we have used the word “transformational” frequently in our blog, but there is a difference in development when you go from “renovation” to the next level of revitalization, and Detroit is doing just that. In our minds, the type of focus happening in the city is not just in the large developments, but in the overall shift in thinking about what is good for the city and its people.
As you travel around Downtown, Midtown and now Corktown and beyond, it is evident the impact real estate investors, artists and entrepreneurs are adding into the area. With what the director of city planning’s Maurice Cox, calls ‘inclusive recovery’, the focus is on making the next phase right for all those in Detroit. Something the city is very proud to be making sure they do differently.
https://archpaper.com/2019/02/five-years-after-detroit-bankruptcy-design-fuels-recovery/
Large developments like the Michigan Central Station are, dare we say, pioneering the recovery and possible gentrification of Detroit. Having had the honor to meet some of those working on this great project a couple weeks ago at the ULI Spring Summit, it is incredible to hear about so many creative minds contributing to the vision for the building, the surrounding area and its positive effect on the surrounding neighborhoods.
Detroit’s focus on ‘getting it right’ and priority of the recovery plan is on preserving the neighborhood culture while affordable housing is embedded into market-rate developments. This framework, hopes to be a success model moving forward with the collaboration 2017’s A City For All: Future Housing Models for the City of Detroit. One line in the piece reads: “Impress the value of design on all projects and all audiences – emphasizing equity, design excellence, and inclusion.”
The synthesis of all these elements: design, art, development and focus are a great recipe for where Detroit will go next in its steps getting back to the big city it was in the last century, and we look forward to being a part of it.