The symposium, hosted by the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, is the culmination of the Michigan-Mellon Project on the Egalitarian Metropolis. Sessions are open to the entire University of Michigan community and beyond.

The first phase of the project is a feasibility assessment to test technology and explore the viability of a 40+-mile driverless vehicle corridor featuring lanes that support transit and shared mobility options in addition to private vehicles between Downtown Detroit and Ann Arbor.

As COVID-19  swept across the city of Detroit, it brought with it a wave of food insecurity, particularly among low-income residents and seniors who rely on public transportation and can only afford to buy small amounts of food at a time. Now, a U-M research team has stepped in to help identify solutions. 

Nick Tobier has spent a lot of time on the Detroit People Mover. Teaching, exploring, observing, escaping.
On a rare sunny day in February, sandwiched between snow and ice storms, we boarded the city’s iconic monorail together at the Grand Circus Park station, just outside the David Whitney building. Tobier happily paid my 75 cent fare (he prefers buying the tokens — “I feel good when I have them in my pocket,” he says) and led me up the escalator to the platform.

Keeping with the University of Michigan’s commitment to integrate and strengthen engagement efforts in the city of Detroit, the university recently established the Detroit Advisory Group and named a new special adviser on Detroit engagement.

Lessons learned earning two University of Michigan degrees guided Rick Haas on a globetrotting career that took him to Japan, Brazil, India and back to his hometown – Detroit – where his team at Mahindra Automotive is succeeding on an unconventional path in the U.S. auto industry.

Throughout the year, the Detroit Center hosts meetings, lectures, workshops, and performances, annually drawing more than 20,000 visitors.

UM-Dearborn student Thomaz Carvalhaes spent his summer walking the streets of Detroit to locate and assess bus stops across 10 square miles.