In post-bankruptcy Detroit, planner Maurice Cox and his interdisciplinary team are making vacancy an asset, revitalizing through preservation, and listening to residents who know the city the best.
Maurice Cox grew up in Brooklyn, a borough whose name has since become a global shorthand for gentrification. An urban designer, architectural educator, and former mayor of the City of Charlottesville, VA, in 2015 Cox became head of the planning department of Detroit, where he hopes to prevent the forces that have reshaped his childhood home from taking over the Motor City. The city’s population peaked at 1.8 million, but has less than half as many residents today; Cox is using design to catalyze growth that’s incremental and closely in line with the city’s strong sense of self. This means making the most of an abundance of vacant land and listening closely to what residents have to say. Below, Cox speaks with Marc Norman about plans and projects underway, preserving Black spaces, and how Detroit might serve as a model for other cities in the 21st century.
FULL STORY: Growing in the Gaps
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California Senate Committee Kills Freeway Expansion Bill
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Initiative Brings Capacity Building to Booming Rural Towns
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City of Bothell
Town of San Anselmo
Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency (TPA)
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
City of Apache Junction
City of Helena
Gallatin County, Montana
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.
