After a year of using design thinking to solve problems I began to ask myself, “How can we design even more empathetically?” I wondered how design might be of use for those who are among the most vulnerable. For my Impact Project, I partnered with the Coalition on Temporary Shelter (COTS), a homeless shelter for […]
The smell of development is in Detroit’s air. In the realm of community development, the conversation has placed much weight on “development”, but it’s also important that we focus our gaze on “community” and what we mean by that word.
So…what is a community? When does it start and end? At what point does a group […]
I recently had my two-year anniversary at my host company, the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC). I realized that I’ve never really blogged about what I do for most of the week!
The DCDC is a non-profit architecture and urban design firm located in the School of Architecture on the University of Detroit Mercy’s campus. “Architecture” […]
Lately I’ve been thinking about how I perceived the city before the fellowship and how I perceive it now that we’re about chest-deep into it. In the beginning, I can remember spending time thinking about how “city life” would affect my personality. I’m going to have to not look people in the eye if I […]
Today was the culmination of Challenge Detroit’s most recent social impact project. My team was partnered with EcoWorks and West Village Association to form a mobility strategy that would promote alternative forms of transit and alleviate traffic in the West Village neighborhood.
A “mobility strategy” sounds pretty fancy, but it really just describes the ways […]
I’ll probably never tire of the curiousness of the idea that as we shape our buildings, our buildings shape us. It’s true as the scale increases too…as we shape our cities, our cities shape us.
It’s interesting, then, to think about how we think about cities. I’ve heard people oftentimes refer to cities with a feminine […]
A few weeks ago, the Challenge cohort spent our Friday in the Detroit Institute of the Arts (DIA). We spent an hour of the morning sketching in a room full of paintings and sculptures. I was particularly drawn to a sculpture of a woman whose face was full of longing. Throughout the hour I noticed […]
Everyone and their mom is talking about being “innovative”. Though I understand the use of buzzwords, when things become so ubiquitously used their meaning can easily be stretched. The degradation of repetition.
My frustration with buzzword-ology has me wondering…how do we really even know we’re being innovative? In our projects, in our work, in our method, […]
I walked around Eastern Market with my nose in the air.
Let me explain… it was a Tuesday and I was working…and smelling. All sorts of fun smells (read: slaughtered animals and trash) that stirred childhood memories of chicken coops and dirt. The uniqueness of Eastern Market is that it is a gathering place for Detroiters and […]
Several weeks ago the Detroit Free Press Marathon swept across the city on a surprisingly warm Sunday morning. I used to run distance, and have participated in the Free Press races many times. As such, I felt the draw of the race. Even now, mentally reflecting on those races sparks a bodily memory of those […]
