RecoveryPark is a collaborative effort of neighborhoods, policymakers and designers that will include urban farming, education, commercial and housing development in Detroit, Michigan. SHAR, Inc. (Self Help Addiction Rehabilitation) teamed up with the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture to create a community design process to develop land-use proposals and speculate on what a resuscitated urban environment might look like.
Read on for more after the break.
The guiding principle behind these and additional projects is a vision of the rebuilding of a partner community with an eye toward financial and environmental self-sustainability. A Leadership Task Force of more than 25 collaborative partners from various fields are all participating in the planning associated with RecoveryPark. It is projected to address five essential components that can be improved in detroit: space, money, human capital, environmental and economic sustainability.
Large tracts of vacant land will be allocated to community and environmental uses such as farming and energy harvesting. This will recharge Detroit’s local economy by providing agriculture and “off the grid” energy. These types of initiatives will be lead by the citizens of Detroit, creating community bonds around the programs of RecoveryPark. The concept of urban life will be expanded to include urban farming, by splicing rural and urban conditions within RecoveryPark and creating opportinuties to continue to develop environmentally sustainable strategies in other cities.
