Detroit is not a city of ghosts. It is not a city of decay. Despite facing bankruptcy, Detroit is a city of vibrant, resilient people calling upon a deep legacy of struggle for social justice, relationship creation, and values for a better future.
Those are the reflections from two University of Colorado Boulder students, Cassidy Rosen and Fernando Abbud, who visited Detroit this summer when they attended a conference in June called “Detroit 2013: Making A Way Out of No Way: Towards the Next American Revolution.”
The conference was sponsored by the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, and the center’s director, Grace Lee Boggs led the event with the theme: “What Time Is it on the Clock of the World?” This question is often posed by Boggs— a 98-year-old Detroit resident and social change activist— to address the shape of the planet as a result of human activity and the impact of human actions. Given what time it is on the clock of the world, we are called to reimagine our cities and our institutions and to re-think what our professions and livelihoods ought to look like.
Rosen and Abbud, who both graduated in May in Environmental Design, first learned about community efforts to reimagine Detroit in their INVST Community Studies course earlier this year. Their visit allowed them to experience Detroit firsthand.
“Unlike my traditional education in architecture and city planning, I learned that the spirit and personality of place doesn’t solely exist within its roads or infrastructure but within the souls and stories of its history,” Rosen said.
“To the naked eye, Detroit may seem like a deteriorating city, hopeless, a blank slate. But after visiting Detroit I saw the life and vibrancy within each individual I met. I learned it is possible to reimagine community development and grassroots change when the community is the key factor in change.”
In the INVST course, students critically examined how the occupations and industries we have chosen for decades have actually contributed to damaging the Earth and human communities, said Sabrina Sideris, INVST program director and instructor. The class reimagined Detroit, a post-industrial city where change is most urgent and therefore most viable, by looking at community groups that have emerged to offer solutions to the most pressing social and environmental problems.
“We looked at urban farms as community-based solutions for sourcing healthy food in neighborhoods in Detroit that are classified as ‘food deserts,’” Sideris said. “We looked at youth-led organizations using technology to empower and engage and alternative schools that are providing meaningful learning opportunities.”
Rosen and Abbud shared the syllabus from the CU-Boulder course and explained the service-learning experience, so that other educators may consider offering similar learning experiences.
Rosen and Abbud’s visit allowed for interaction with renowned community leaders. They toured Detroit community projects that were covered in class including the Hope District, Earthworks Urban Farm, Heidelberg Project, and the Hush House.
“Even though I was aware of the great projects happening in Detroit, what still governed my mind was the ‘single story’ told by the media,” Abbud said. “I found it inspiring to hear from the people of Detroit— their side of the story.
“I learned that for change to tackle the root of the problem, it needs to happen from within the community. What works in Detroit might not work in Boulder, but the sharing of ideas can help spark solutions that can be beneficial locally.”
The students’ participation was made possible with support from Children, Youth and Environments, Professor Willem van Vliet, INVST Community Studies, INVST instructor Sideris, Designers Without Boundaries— an Environmental Design student group— and Drennan Pyatt Architecture.