The pair joined Olympia Development as part of a company growth spurt following its opening of Little Caesars Arena — the home of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings — and plans to develop the surrounding area as The District Detroit.

The Dow Sustainability Fellows program supports U-M graduate students and scholars in their efforts to create sustainable solutions to pressing issues in various areas of study. The fellows engage in interdisciplinary, actionable, and meaningful work, tackling problems on a local, national, and global scale. Each fellow receives a $20,000 stipend and participates in collaborative activities and a team project.

O’Keefe recognizes that addressing racial inequity is a big and complex problem and says that the planning field as a whole “still has a lot to grapple with when it comes to equity.”

Hip-hop architecture has garnered more attention in recent years, with a major exhibition at the Center for Architecture in New York, TED Talks, and a feature in Architect magazine. But while it’s a useful concept, Craig Wilkins refuses to let the label limit a set of practices and ideals that, he argues, ought to infuse the entire profession.

The Taubman Public Design Corps builds partnerships between student designers and local nonprofits.

Architecture graduate student Torri Smith is a Detroit native with a passion to elevate the diverse narratives of minority students in the design field.

“As we build a place that more North End residents are involved with and proud of, and as more community needs are served, we know the North End will thrive.”

~ Jerry Ann Hebron, Oakland Avenue Urban Farm director

His project in Detroit will attempt to address the issue of internet connectivity through the design of a building that will be a community anchor, providing internet access. It also will help to create a new social destination with spaces for gathering, where residents can come together.

Riverside communities have displayed remarkable resilience through the myriad trials of the past 75 years, and this project aims to partner with these communities as they continue reshaping the shared narratives that will lay the groundwork for a sustainable post-carbon future for the region.