At the end of 50 years, Anika Goss sees a city with productive, intentional green spaces, a Detroit with economic clusters with great jobs, and neighborhoods that have diverse housing choices and transportation options and family-friendly services. 

Three University of Michigan faculty members are part of a team who won an international design competition that will unite 12 cultural and educational institutions located in Detroit’s Midtown and change the way visitors and Detroiters experience the area.

“I mean, I think if we’re honest, we originally thought we could, at the least, change the nature of the conversation by putting our ideas on the table. And then we got through to the final three, and then we were selected as winners—and I’m just really proud that all the stakeholders appreciated our knowledge and perspective and trust us to carry it through.”

“I’m most proud about the Respect Cafe. It’s attached to the Charles Wright Museum of African American History. The museum caters a lot of events and this cafe gives them flexible space. There are two parts to the name. One is an homage to Aretha Franklin. The other is respect to Detroiters.”

James Macmillen, assistant professor of urban planning at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and a postdoctoral fellow in the Michigan Society of Fellows, is the featured speaker in this Detroit School Series talk.

Marc Norman, associate professor of practice in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, is an internationally recognized expert on policy and finance for affordable housing and community development.