Community Driven in Detroit
How one core neighborhood is keeping its sense of neighborhood front and center.
How do you preserve the character of a historic neighborhood that is poised for development? You start with an inside out approach that integrates the residents and business owners into a public process. As a result of interest from the local development community, the Detroit core neighborhood of Woodbridge and the Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation decided early on to develop a strategy for anticipated future development that would preserve the historic character of the neighborhood and promote future mixed use development along Grand River Avenue, a major arterial commercial corridor that runs through the heart of downtown Detroit.
Working with the Woodbridge Neighborhood Development and an integrated team of planners, architects, landscape architects (Quinn Evans Architects), urban designers, and market analysists (LandUseUSA), MKSK initiated a community driven study process. A series of workshops, neighborhood events, project website, online surveys, and neighborhood newsletters engaged the community. This holistic and multi-faceted approach to engagement provided community and stakeholders opportunities to participate at their own pace. The result of these conversations established four key guiding values that would inform planning and design decisions throughout the project:
Involve the community throughout the planning process and implementation.
Promote social cohesion.
Pursue innovative and new approaches to meet existing housing needs to help address what is currently missing in the neighborhood.
Focus on sustainability through multiple open space opportunities, emphasizing walkability and encouraging green stormwater infrastructure.
By engaging the neighborhood in activities like “Build Your Own Development” and interactive workshops, Woodbridge Neighborhood Development and the design and planning team were able to gauge the levels of density that the community was comfortable with promoting, and also share best practices on preservation and smart sustainable development.
As a result of this dynamic dialogue a comprehensive planning strategy and design guidelines emerged that promoted a series of planning recommendations including:
preservation of the existing neighborhood character
a network of open space and pocket parks to promote a healthy neighborhood
shared streets to serve as both gathering and event spaces for the residents as well as circulation space for vehicles and non-motorized transportation
connectivity and walkability within the neighborhood by connecting existing paths and routes with new walkways and greenways within future development
vibrant commercial corridor along Grand River Avenue
the adaptive reuse of an existing elementary school as a neighborhood community center and future housing development
mixed use development (retail, office, residential)
affordable housing opportunities
The transformation of these abandoned landscapes in the urban neighborhood of Woodbridge is inevitable, and the foresight of the neighborhood to engage the process in advance is an initiative that many neighborhoods and communities across the country should be leading. Although the future conditions of urban living and public interaction may be unknown at this point in the global pandemic, one thing we do know is that our need for healthy cities, affordable housing, and resilient landscapes will be a continuous thread that will continue to weave through all of our lives.
The Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation has been selected to participate in the 2020 Detroit Month of Design and present the Woodbridge Development and Design Guidelines at the public showcase in September. As the steward of Detroit’s UNESCO City of Design designation, Design Core serves as the convener and backbone organization for the Detroit City of Design initiative.
