Lots of Lots! Creative Land Activation in McDougall-Hunt

CM credit hours for mobile workshops are awarded based on the planned dedicated instructional time. Adjustments to CM hours will not be made after the live event.

Detroit's underresourced, historically Black McDougall-Hunt neighborhood, a mile from downtown, has a high concentration of vacant land. Over the last century, it has been harmed by discriminatory planning and development policies. For some residents and community-based organizations, "lots of lots" means "lots of opportunity" for reimagining what a resilient, sustainable, inclusive, healthy, and beautiful neighborhood can be. It is home to the internationally acclaimed Heidelberg Project, a four-decade community art project led by artist Tyree Guyton; the Bailey Park Project, a resident-created initiative that spawned a wide range of neighborhood revitalization projects; Freedom Dreams, an eco-village that emphasizes youth-led, design-build projects; and Arboretum Detroit, a nonprofit network of reforested community spaces. Each one has grown into an enduring, neighborhood-scaled network of interconnected sites and projects.

As these organizations evolve, new opportunities and needs for cooperative, coordinated planning arise among the organizations themselves, as well as the City of Detroit, Detroit Land Bank Authority, and others.

Discuss and learn about:

• Creative strategies for vibrant, post-vacancy urban communities;

• Using vacant land to build climate resiliency; and

• Facilitating synergies between grassroots and public-sector planning.