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Mobile Workshop Submission

Climate Change, Energy, and the Environment

Developing a Vacant Land Strategy from the Grassroots

Monday, April 27, 2026

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM CT

Location: Mobile Workshop Departure Area

CM: 3

Ticket Price: $80.00
Division Endorsement: Food Systems Division

Lead Mobile Workshop Coordinator(s)

Tepfirah Rushdan

Director of Sustainability
City of Detroit

Mobile Workshop Guide(s)

TS

Tanya Stephens

Detroit Land Bank Authority
SH

Sarah Hayosh

Detroit Future City
JK

Jon Kent

Sanctuary Farms

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 faces the challenge of reimagining nearly 18 square miles of vacant land, one of the largest concentrations of urban vacancy in the nation. Examine the tension and opportunity of creating a strategy at that scale, balancing grassroots creativity with formal planning tools. Detroit's vacant land provides the unique opportunity to shape the city through residents' eyes and mitigate environmental issues like flooding, heat stress, and air quality through nature-based solutions.

This tour highlights various community groups' grassroots strategies to address blight and food insecurity in high-vacancy areas that have experienced years of disinvestment and environmental racism. Land stewards actively aim to reverse these inequities by activating those spaces into productive use.

Learning Objectives:

Understand community-led approaches to vacant land reuse that are shaping land use strategies through farming, art, conservation, and cultural projects.
Explore policy and partnership opportunities by examining how city agencies, nonprofits, and residents collaborate (and sometimes clash) to bring resources, flexibility, and long-term sustainability to land-based projects.
Identify replicable models for other cities and discover innovative practices in food systems, green infrastructure, and creative placemaking that can inform vacant-land strategies in Detroit and beyond.