Dan Pitera walks the Fellows through the Detroit Works project and Home Base.
Friday morning we visited the DetroitWorks Project at the DetroitWorks HomeBase – a humble nondescript headquarters located in Detroit’s venerable Eastern Market neighborhood. The DetroitWorks Project is a monumental planning effort truly unparalleled among North American cities large and small – notable for the breadth and depth of topics it covers and the vast public engagement effort.
Dan Pitera, the Director of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, and the leader of the DetroitWorks community engagement team literally walked us through a comprehensive tour of the space – which has dynamic information packed floor-to-ceiling boards of graphical and textual information representing the culmination of the DetroitWorks project through 2012. The long-term strategies for DetroitWorks are split into 5 categories – each category representing a different section of the wall at the HomeBase: 1) Economic Growth 2) Neighborhoods 3) City Systems + Infrastructure + Environment 4) Land Use + Zoning + Urban Design 5) Public Land + Facilities.
The final DetroitWorks Long Term Strategic Framework Plan document will be published in the next several weeks. “This will be an action-oriented Strategic Framework Plan for decision-making that includes a physical vision, public policy suggestions, strategies and implementation responsibilities. It will help guide our community with strategy recommendations that can transform our weaknesses into strengths and build upon existing assets in all areas of our city over the next 5-to-20-years.”
Challenge Detroit visited the DetroitWorks Project to engage with what is arguably the most significant all-encompassing planning effort undertaken in Detroit in decades. It is significant because of the set of values that are its guiding principles:
- Aspirational where it should be and practical where it must be;
- Respectful of the City’s history, community, new ideas and current efforts;
- Just and Equitable in seeking to create benefits for all; and
- Transparent and Inclusive of all voices that are participating in positive change for our community.
We discussed the history which led to the purpose and need for the plan, the content of the long-term strategies, and the public engagement that created it. We had open dialogue on the importance and relevancy of the plan, stakeholder buy-in, and how we can help with implementation. DetroitWorks is a foundational document for the future of Detroit, making it a natural partner in the objective of Challenge Detroit.
DetroitWorks will serve as the city’s official framework plan helping guide government, businesses, investors, neighborhoods, community organizations, philanthropic groups, and other non-governmental organizations in their decision making, funding, and actions for the next 5-20 years. Challenge Detroit fellows will use DetroitWorks as a resource to inform action, to frame our approach to Detroit’s challenges, to learn and be inspired to think creatively about what is possible, and to be advocates and ambassadors helping change the mindset of the community and realize the enormous potential expressed in the plan. Ultimately, as the inaugural Challenge Detroit Fellows, we will be the leaders implementing DetroitWorks in the next two decades.
Contributed by Jason Zogg, Fellow