Detroit Land Lab

Presented by Detroit Vacant Land CDC in collaboration with University of Michigan’s School of Environment and Sustainability and Department of Landscape Architecture, this community empowerment workshop is dedicated to sustainable creative land use and landscape design. This exciting event will educate and empower residents interested in land stewardship, preservation, and the beautification of Detroit’s vacant land, which can be transformed into one of the City’s greatest assets.

The session will feature experts including landscape designers, land use advocates, and resident land stewards that have led successful landscape design projects in Detroit, and will also include invited guests: City of Detroit, Detroit Black Farmers Land Fund, Keep Growing Detroit, and the Detroit Land Bank Authority. Together, we will reimagine open spaces through topics such as vacant lot design and open space visualization, landscape design, plant identification, soil and compositing basics, creative land use ideas, and tips and tricks to working with the Detroit Land Bank.

We will also host a bus tour of several vacant lot transformation projects in Detroit from urban farms, art parks, and community gardens, and other creative land uses. Bus will leave at 2:30p.m. (Due to limited seating, registration through our Eventbrite page is required.)

The workshop event will be held at House of Imagination & Gardens, a creative land transformation project located on Heidelberg Street, in the Historic McDougall-Hunt Neighborhood. The space includes a community gathering space, butterfly garden, public art, and native habitat.

Click here to RSVP