On September 10th at 10am PST, Meeting of the Minds will host a live, interactive webinar + Q&A session with Erin Kelly and Chris Dorle of Detroit Future City.

Archive Recording

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Program

With federal dollars at a trickle and state and local funding drying up or unattainable, how can cities innovate and implement new policies that improve the quality of life for residents? How are productive models of collaboration (and occasional discord) operating between government agencies, civic groups, and the private sector? The Detroit Future City (DFC) Implementation Office is one catalyst for change in Detroit that has strategically intervened to fill a long-range planning gap.

At the heart of DFC’s work as an implementation office is a strategy to convene new models of public and private partnerships to solve urban challenges such as transportation and smart city infrastructure. Imperative to the ongoing effort to revitalize Detroit through the Detroit Future City Strategic Framework is the establishment of an Innovative Open Space Network that leverages the potential value of Detroit’s massive amount of structure free lands.

The DFC Implementation Office has advanced several initiatives around blight removal, including techniques for enlisting deconstruction into the government-administered building removal process. On a daily basis, new structure free land is being created in Detroit as a result of residential demolition activities. This land represents potential opportunity. Following building removal activities, innovative treatments can be applied to these parcels to improve safety, increase property values, reduce or orient maintenance toward the outcome of revenue generation, and also harness the ability of vacant lots to manage stormwater runoff. This intersection between structure free land and city systems—the ability of this land to reduce the overall burden on the grey pipe systems of traditional water infrastructure in Detroit—is the focal point of this webinar—from the material-logistics to the management of trans-governmental relationships.

More information about the Detroit Future City Implementation Office is available here: detroitfuturecity.com

Speakers

Erin Kelly
Program Manager
Detroit Future City

Chris Dorle
Strong Cities, Strong Communities Fellow
Detroit Future City