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 will convene leaders across Detroit’s design, development, and civic communities to explore the partnerships, policies, and investments needed to unlock the city’s existing assets while preserving its distinctive character. Attendees will gain insights into the real decisions shaping Detroit today - and the opportunities defining its future. 

Moderator: Eric Larson, CEO, Downtown Detroit Partnership

Panelists: Lily Diego, Creative Director and Building Transformation and Adaptive Reuse Leader, Gensler; Lauren Hood, Founder/Lead Visionary, Institute for AfroUrbanism; Beth Kmetz-Armitage, Director of Commercial Development, Michigan Central; Eric Tuomey, Vice President of Development, Olympia Development

UN SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

We use Detroit's UNESCO City of Design designation as a call to action for Detroiters to embrace the Sustainable Development Goals in their own communities, contributing to the active effort of solving global interconnected issues.