Redesigning Detroit with what it already has

Buzz

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Related Tags

Fish farms in Detroit? That's just one idea of reinvention.

Excerpt:

"Many communities come to us because they're searching for some sort of revitalization or rethinking of their communities based on the strengths and assets that still exist in their communities," explains Stanard.

The table at the front of the design center is covered in colorful mock ups and drawings of all the potential projects they want to work on.

They're currently working on a project on Heidelberg Street in Detroit. A lot of children live around there, and it also happens to be one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country. Chandra Moore explains how they're going to take one of the vacant houses on the street "and figure out we can make it an open, urban amphitheater for the area."

The reason they're able to do the project is because they got a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Without the grant, who knows if the project would've happened. A lot of time the fate of a project does come down to money.

Read the entire article here.