2019 Presentations

Remanufacturing is the standardized industrial process of producing high-quality goods – a second time – by reusing materials and conserving embodied energy and labor in existing products. Remanufacturing is sustainable manufacturing. The finished goods have like-new quality, but they deliver better value and they’re better for the environment. Quality. Value. Green. Communities like Detroit will advance due to sustainable manufacturing: utilizes advanced manufacturing technologies; scores high related to people, planet and profit; provides more than 180,000 jobs in the U.S.

There are many options to choose from when it comes to residential green building programs, but what’s right for you, your client, and your budget? This session will compare and contrast LEED for Homes, GreenStar, National Green Building Standard, ENERGY STAR, DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes, and Passive House US (PHIUS). You’ll also learn which programs apply for single and multi-family projects, rehabs and new construction, market rate and affordable housing. There’s a certification that will meet your sustainability goals–we’ll help get you there.

This presentation will provide an overview of the Food Scrap Management model being utilized by multiple business entities within Detroit as well as the State of Michigan.

Midtown EcoHomes are a single-family redevelopment of existing brownfields, 2 & 3 bedroom units ranging from 1500-2500 SF. The homes are a proof-of-concept that ecology and economy can coexist. We will explore how the EcoHomes were designed to be a sustainable, resilient model of responsible urban development for the City of Detroit and beyond, including city-scale lots, efficient floor plans, durable materials, and energy and resource conservation mindfully folded into one eye-catching block.

Children and adults alike can be engaged through participatory design processes to create imaginative spaces to learn about the natural environment around them and in their own backyards. In this case this engagement has fostered awareness of pollinators, stormwater management, energy, and materials. With the support of non-profit organizations the Detroit Collaborative Design Center has been able to design a few of these spaces at different scales and locations to foster a love for learning and stewardship for the earth.

The Detroit Biodiversity Network (DBN) is a student-led organization housed at Wayne State University focused on developing community-engaged green stormwater (GSI) infrastructure best practices using native plant species. Since its inception in 2017, DBN has engaged students, staff, faculty, and community members in native plant production, GSI design and installation, and sustainable landscape practices through hands-on learning. Through outreach, engagement, and applied projects, DBN aims to assist its fellow Detroiters in making the city a greener, healthier, and more sustainable place.

The Nature Conservancy's Urban Conservation Program (TNC) kicked off their first GSI construction project in the City of Detroit in partnership with the Archdiocese of Detroit (AOD). With the help of their hired consultant, SmithGroup, TNC has transformed the Sacred Heart Church property in Eastern Market into a stormwater and community asset. The project reduces the drainage charge fee for the AOD, educates parishioners, provides opportunities for recently trained landscape technicians, and serves as a demonstration project of how to successfully and creatively integrate GSI in Detroit.

Starting in 2014, mass water shutoffs have affected more 142,000 families unable to pay high bills, heightening public health fears, even as concerns persist of flooding and lead contamination in old pipes. Detroit Water Stories is an oral history project that gathers and shares community stories to document these experiences of water insecurity. Through multimedia storytelling (e.g., interviews, documentary shorts, blogs, workshops) and advocacy work, our goal is to amplify grassroots voices so that we may enact policy change for water justice in Detroit.

The reality and urgency of the climate emergency is clearer than ever, but the pathways to a carbon free world can seem tenuous. In the hopes of spiriting bold collective action to cut emissions to zero and ensure these actions benefit people of color and impacted communities, EcoWorks developed Net Zero For All, Starting Today (F.A.S.T.) Looking to Project Drawdown, the Green New Deal, and climate commitments from states and municipalities, the initiative aims to catalyze rapid cuts to emissions across Southeast Michigan while keeping equity, justice, and resilience front and center.

Interested in achieving a high-performance building? Learn about USGBC's updated LEED v4.1 rating system and hear a case study about the soon to be LEED Certified TCF Center.

Americans throw away about 40% of the food that we grow, despite the fact that 1 in 8 Americans is food insecure. It’s an environmental issue so large that Project Drawdown, the world’s leading source of climate change solutions, lists reducing food waste as the third most effective solution. In this talk, you'll learn where and why we waste food, why wasted food dramatically impacts our planet, and what’s being done in Detroit to keep food out of landfills.

Design can ease us into our parasympathetic system, where we are able to rest, relax, and engage the more nurturing and communal aspects of our nature, or force us into our sympathetic system where we are distrustful, irrational, and highly defensive. One supports democracy and the other erodes it. What if we designed the built environment in a way that supports, rather than oppresses, the noble pursuit of an ever more perfect democracy? Imagine a Detroit (and an America) where all public and private spaces are intentionally designed to support the democratic ideals of fairness, equity, and justice.