Reimagining Detroit: From Legacy Assets to Future City

Reimagining Detroit: From Legacy Assets to Future City Detroit’s future will be defined not by ground-up development alone, but by leveraging its rich historic assets to reinvigorate neighborhoods, revitalize districts, and activate megablocks across the city. Across downtown, neighborhood corridors, and former industrial zones, a wealth of underutilized buildings and sites present an opportunity to reshape the city in ways that are both economically and culturally meaningful. This panel explores how adaptive reuse, strategic reinvestment, and thoughtful urban planning can work together to unlock Detroit’s full potential, creating spaces and places launching vanguard industries, inclusive communities, and catalytic conversions. What does it take to transform vacant office buildings into vibrant residential communities? How can former industrial sites evolve into hubs for innovation, production, and public life? And how can these individual transformations contribute to stronger neighborhoods, more connected districts, and a more resilient city overall? Hosted by Gensler, the discussion…