Featured Stories

What if we really were one Detroit?

Francis Grunow Tuesday, January 21, 2014

In Part II of his creative look at how neighborhood life has evolved in Detroit, Francis Grunow goes back over 300 years -- older than our nation itself -- to explore how we came to the footprint we have today, and how things might look under a greater municipal regional entitiy.

Building Communities, Detroit

Midtown

Lessons learned from M.L. King: "Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Joel Batterman Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The author, a Michigan native who attended college in Oregon before moving to Detroit a few years ago, wants to be part of the solution here while remaining sensitive to longstanding issues of race. Joel Batterman calls on the legacy of Martin Luther King in this essay.

Building Communities, Detroit

City kids: Growing next generation of medical professionals

Amy Kuras Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A combination of mentoring, job shadowing, and taking kids inside classrooms and labs used to train tomorrow's scientists, doctors and coders is helping prepare young Detroiters for careers in health care. Amy Kuras shows us how it's getting done.

Building Communities, City Kids, Detroit, Social innovation

Model D/UIX TV: Rebecca Willis and Bleeding Heart Design

DETROIT LIVES! Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Founded by Rebecca Willis, Bleeding Heart Design's goal is reimagine community spaces by what she calls visual real estate, with a healthy dose of altruism and selflessness. DETROIT LIVES! shot the piece for the Urban Innovation Exchange.

Arts, Building Communities, Detroit, Film, Social innovation, Video

Opinion: Inspired DSO sets diverse course for the future

Anne Parsons Tuesday, January 14, 2014

We were recently invited to sit in on the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's annual meeting. It was a terrific event, filled with news of Midtown community love and artistic and financial growth for the organization. President and CEO Anne Parsons shares her remarks.

Arts, Detroit, Performing Arts, Sense of Place, Woodward Avenue, Woodward Avenue Lifestyle

Midtown

UIX: Social innovator and entrepreneur Sarida Scott Montgomery

Tunde Wey Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Sarida Scott Montgomery is the executive director of Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD) and co-founder of Good People Popcorn. Tunde Wey of Urban Innovation Exchange has the profile.

Detroit, Social innovation, Urban Leadership

Rebuilding Detroit's first and last neighborhood

Francis Grunow Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Francis Grunow's presentation at last month's Idealab in Ann Arbor was so good we thought it should reach a wider audience in Model D. Not only that: we're turning it into a three-part think series on Detroit neighborhoods. Take it away, sir.

Building Communities, Detroit, Social innovation, Transformational change

Downtown Detroit, Midtown

Open City preview: Who's the boss?

Model D staff Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Good question to start off the new year on the right entrepreneurial foot: 'Who's the boss' is all about exploring alternative ownership models in the local business community. Check it out Jan. 20 at Cliff Bell's in downtown Detroit.

Detroit, Entrepreneurs, Shop Local, Small Business

Downtown Detroit

Meet Model D's new development news editor

Model D staff Tuesday, January 07, 2014

MJ Galbraith is a creative writer, a musician and a guy with his ear to the ground looking for all the Detroit development news that's fit to print. Find him walking into a building or business near you.

Detroit, Development, Entrepreneurs, Redevelopment

Stabilizing neighborhoods by investing in Detroit Land Bank

Dennis Archambault Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Shoring up the middle class is key to improving neighborhood life in Detroit. By working with homeowner associations in the Boston-Edison and East English Village neighborhoods, the Detroit Land Bank is starting to get results, says Dennis Archambault in this report.

Building Communities, Detroit, Development, Redevelopment, Sense of Place

Central Woodward-Boston Edison

Model D TV: Detroit Design Center sculpts new signage for Avenue of Fashion

DETROIT LIVES! Tuesday, December 17, 2013

A neighborhood retail initiative led by the Detroit Lions and Hatch Detroit brings our video team back again to the upper Livernois commercial district for this series of Model D TV episodes. Enjoy Part II produced by DETROIT LIVES!

Building Communities, Detroit, Entrepreneurs, Film, Shop Local, Social innovation, Video

On the Ground: Brightmoor on film

Oren Goldenberg & Matthew Lewis Tuesday, December 17, 2013

In this fab video piece by Oren Goldenberg and Matthew Lewis, we get up close and personal with the doers and the makers that are rebuilding Brighmoor brick by brick, wall by wall. It's a story to inspire neighborhood redevelopment across the city.

Brightmoor, Building Communities, Detroit, Film, On the Ground, Sense of Place, Video

On the Ground: Panel discussion recapped

Matthew Lewis Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Last Wednesday, a group of Brightmoor residents and people from around the region gathered at the Brightmoor Community Center for a neighborhood Speaker Series event. Matthew Lewis was there to capture it all in words and pictures.

Brightmoor, Building Communities, Detroit, On the Ground

Green City Diaries: 2013 in review

Matthew Piper Tuesday, December 17, 2013

One of the threads running through the eight diary entries we published this year is seeing different people engaged in different passions in all corners of Detroit. Matthew Piper recaps 2013 in sustainability and green living.

Detroit, Green, Sense of Place, Sustainability

Highland Park, Midtown, Near East Side, Corktown, University Commons - Palmer Park

UIX: Kurt Spieles and Spielhaus Toys

Amy Kuras Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Kurt Spieles is the owner of Spielhaus Toys, a 2013 Hatch Detroit finalist now popping up on Woodward through the holidays with sights set on a permanent location in the future. Amy Kuras shows us why the retail spot is meant for kids of all ages.

Detroit, Entrepreneurs, Shop Local, Small Business, Woodward Avenue

Downtown Detroit