Detroit Collaborative Design Center

Erin Kelly (MLA ’12) worked on a project with the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) to develop a landscape based master plan assessment to understand the suitability and feasibility of transforming a 186 acre parcel of a depopulated neighborhood in the near east side of Detroit into a productive landscape. The goals were to enlist underutilized land in the city to foster economic, ecological, and social development, while creating jobs, supporting opportunities for education and training, and ultimately acting as a catalyst for transformation within Detroit’s east side.

The project site and process for the SHAR: Recovery Park had been underway for fifteen months prior to Erin’s arrival at the DCDC. In addition to delineating, coordinating, and conducting a site assessment, she participated in the collaborative stakeholder meeting process, a youth workshop held at a high school within the SHAR: Recovery Park site, and a presentation to local, state, and national underwriting organizations. Pictured are typological studies in configurations for deploying productive programs across the land-trust held vacant lots within the site, and an example of one of the uniquely urban microclimatic opportunities of one of the productive program morphologies.