Speakers urge more green building, policy for a sustainable Detroit at Model D event

Instead of merely changing a light bulb, try to change a lifestyle. That’s what Mark Nickita, co-founder of the Detroit firm Archive DS,  and Robin Boyle, chair of the Geography and Urban Planning Department at Wayne State University, were laying down at the latest installment of the Model D Speaker Series last week at the Detroit Yacht Club on Belle Isle.

“You could change to a more efficient light bulb,” Nickita says, talking about the new push to switch to the compact fluorescent light bulb. “Or, how about a more efficient lifestyle?”

Nickita spoke on sustainable urbanism that goes beyond green recycling containers, light bulbs, and thermostats. “There’s a bigger picture here,” he says. “It starts in your neighborhood at a micro level, then the infrastructure, then the city, and right up into the region.”

Right now everything is separated and a lot of cities are running away from efficiency. Work, home, play, and school are all in different areas for most people. This means a lot of driving from place, to place, to place. So much energy is wasted doing what should be – and could be – done within a walkable environment, Nickita says.

Bringing all of these pieces together – jobs, homes, entertainment, and retail – is what sustainability is all about.

Woodward is the spine of Detroit, says Boyle, who spoke about Detroit’s Midtown as a place where sustainable urbanism is happening. But it’s not the name that makes this famed avenue important, it’s the jobs that surround it. He estimates that there are nearly 40,000 jobs surrounding Woodward.

“Be persistent – persistent people make a place sustainable,” Boyle says.

Nickita adds: “The key is the mix. Having an office, a residence, retail, and entertainment in the same place – that’s sustainability, that’s green living.”

The Model D speaker series continues April 23 — check back here for the topic and more info.

Writer: Terry Parris Jr.
Photograph of Mark Nikita at the Gaurdian Building: Marvin Shaouni
Marvin Shaouni is the managing photographer for Model D & Metromode