Signs and Echoes: Community Co-Design at Grixdale Farms

This panel will discuss an evolving community co-design process in Grixdale Farms, a neighborhood in Detroit with a rich, layered history and complex social landscape. Spanning from June 2025 to August 2026, the project aims to collaboratively develop five to six “Signs and Echoes” installations paired with resilient plantings, co-created by residents and University of Michigan (UM) students and faculty. This interactive panel will share some of the designs developed over the summer as well as the community stories that emerge.

The process began with a kickoff meeting in May 2025 to introduce new UM team members and refine the scope with residents. Over the summer, four core workshops engaged residents in storytelling through community timelines, PhotoVoice, and mapping exercises. Students will help identify key residents to interview and gather narratives and local histories. By fall, the project will shift to prototype building, with community-led installation supported by UM. Student…