May 15 | Other Industry Events

Hudson's Competition Registration Deadline EXTENDED

Opportunity Detroit is hosting a free, open call for architects, designers, planners, artists, and community members to present ideas for innovative, creative, and inspired designs for the future use of one of the city’s most beloved locations.

“We want participants to use their imaginations and submit visionary proposals with inspiring ideas that could play an important role in the redevelopment of not only the Hudson’s site, but all of downtown Detroit,” said Reed Kroloff, Director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum and competition advisor.  Click on the image to read more about the competition or to register.

EVENT | May 14 AIA Detroit Repositioning Town Hall

In light of the research rolled out at this year's Grassroots Conference by LaPlaca Cohen and Pentagram, AIA Detroit would like to bring the discussion of Repositioning to its members. On Tuesday, May 14th, from 7:30pm - 9:30pm, we invite you to join the AIA Detroit Board members at Lawrence Technological University for a Town Hall session focussing on the topic of "Repositioning the Institute".

The Town Hall will take place in LTU's Lear Auditorium. This event is FREE and open to all members. We are looking for feedback on what Repositioning means to YOU in relation to AIA Detroit. Is there something you would like to propose that AIA Detroit take on? Do you have questions for us? Bring them to Tuesday's event!

If you are interesting in seeing some of the footage from Grassroots regarding the initial rollout of "Repositioning", visit AIA National's page dedicated the the issue here. There, you will find a great video created by LaPlaca Cohen and Pentagram that really helps to remind us all why we became involved with the design profession in the first place.

Please contact Lauren at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions.

A NEW CITY MOVEMENT | Reallocating Space Away from the Car

In honor of Earth Day, AIA Detroit would like to share this piece by Bruce McVean on 15 March 2013.  You can read the article in it's original context here.

Cities need to redefine their relationship with the car – shaping cars and driver behaviour to suit cities, not cities to suit cars. This doesn’t mean banning cars outright, but rather reminding people that when they drive into the city they and their car enter it as guests.

Research by Sustrans and Social Data in 2004 estimated that a car is essential for approximately a third of journeys, such as those that involve moving heavy and bulky loads. The convenience and flexibility that the car can provide means it will always be around in one form or another.

We must, however, begin to address some of the inherent inefficiencies built into a car dominated transport system. Cars take up a lot of space and most of the time they’re occupying that space without even moving. They’re also expensive to own – even before you put any petrol in the tank you have to buy a car and pay Vehicle Excise Duty and insurance.

If a car is only essential for a third of your journeys, why would you need or want to own one? Wouldn’t it be better to use a shared car and in the process have access to a range of vehicles suited to the job in hand? Of course it would, and it’s no surprise that car clubs and pay-as-you-drive schemes are a growth industry.

If the private car’s time is up, the age of the bicycle is just beginning. Bikes, the ultimate form of private urban transport, are space efficient, genuinely zero emissions, healthy, sociable, affordable and fun.

If cities are to realise the potential of the bike as a form of mass transit then they must be welcoming to cyclists of all ages and abilities. Creating the conditions for mass cycling demands reducing traffic speeds and volumes on all streets and building segregated cycle lanes where traffic speeds and/or volumes remain high enough to require them.

Road space in cities is a precious commodity and a highly contested one too, but capacity must to be found to allow the reallocation of road space to bikes and public transport.

Congestion charging in London and elsewhere has been proven to be very effective at reducing traffic volumes. Spare road capacity can then be reallocated to create improved conditions for pedestrians and cyclists and improve the reliability of public transport.