Underpinnings
I love walking down urban streets…taking in the cacophony of sounds…horns, people calling out of windows, pigeons cooing, music from car radios, multiple languages spoken by people passing by, a bell that rings when the front door of a store is opened, buskers, the sounds of the subway below your feet (Okay, not exactly a sound you hear in Detroit), a church bell in the distance, and the list continues… I love cities… I love urbanism… Though they are often confused, I do not see them as the same thing. For me…Cities are places…and urbanism is centered on how people engage with those places or how people are engaged by those places.
I would suggest that experiencing truly urban environments is like experiencing many parallel and intersecting worlds. Urban environments have a simultaneity about them. They do not have distinct lines creating boundaries between areas or activities. They do not have distinct residential districts, commercial districts, business districts, etc, thus, residential units can exist over commercial spaces. If this is the case, then it is not a given that all cities are urban…or…being urban is exclusive to the realm of cities. Thus, both a city and a small town can be urban. With this in mind, I like to think about urbanism at many scales: the neighborhood, the district, the region, the continent, the globe…not just the city. Though I love urbanism, I think it is important to also acknowledge that not all urbanism is sustainable as well.
I am writing this piece in the context of Detroit…and I would argue that this city has the DNA, and a culture of people, wired to investigate what it means to have an equitable, ecological, and inspiring urbanism. And for this piece, I will define sustainable urbanism as existing simultaneously in parallel worlds that are equitable, ecological, and inspiring. With this in mind, and to prevent me from writing a novel versus a short essay, I have structured my thoughts into two interconnected parts: 1. Sustainable urban environments for all people (equity); and 2. The triad of climate issues that affect sustainable urbanism (ecology).
Amplifying the Diminished Voice
Urban and community spaces can be for one person or many, many people. But regardless of the scale, I would suggest that architectural and community spaces mean nothing without people. They are empty and lifeless without people…at the same time…at the most basic level, people need space to exist. If this is the case, then space and people are truly connected, which in turn would imply that…the quality of life of all people is directly connected to the quality of the space they inhabit. Therefore, I feel compelled to start this section with the phrase: True sustainable urban environments only exist if they include all people, not just some people.
Flock, gaggle, school, herd, flamboyance, crowd, mob…Most, if not all animals tend to find ways to gather and unite. A version of the history of human urbanism could be told through the history of who was allowed to gather in the open and who had to gather covertly. Throughout time…We have gathered to celebrate—parades, raves, picnics. We have gathered to mourn—funerals, memorials. We have gathered to destroy—wars, demolitions, mob justice, public executions. We have gathered to worship— mosques, churches, synagogues, temples. We have gathered to compete—stadiums, marathons, bike races, bowling alleys, dog fights. We have gathered to create change—community gardens. barn raisings, protests. Our urban spaces are inextricably linked to all of these acts of gathering, whether they are constructive or destructive…and ultimately these spaces are active partners or unwilling recipients in all of the gatherings listed above…
Thus, implicit in the prior list is the conviction that sustainable urbanism is more than designing things or calculating and reducing carbon emissions. A person’s physical and mental connection to a place is an essential element to reach sustainable urban design. This connection to a place occurs through a person’s sense of being a legitimate part of the space’s use (i.e., versus being trespassers), and through the decision-making process of the space and the community in general. Thus, questions like: Who is left out of the decision-making process? Where is their expertise in this process? …become important tools to design sustainable urbanism.
Then to restate… If urbanism is directly connected to people, then true sustainable urban environments only exist if they include all people, not just some people.
Climate: Action, Justice, and Migration
When it comes to issues surrounding climate change and action, I often hear my colleagues ask the question: Why can’t we as architects stay in our lane? According to The World Economic Forum and the UN Environmental Program, the impact of: 1. making building materials, 2. the construction process, and 3, the building’s operations, creates 37% of the total greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, issues surrounding climate is our lane…period…full stop.
In the prior section, I asked us to consider that architectural and community spaces mean nothing without people. However, though most of the text above discusses human actions, when considering sustainable urbanism, I do not mean to suggest that the constituents are only people, or that the impact of our work is limited to people and their activities. We should be accountable to all flora and fauna.
Lastly, as I have stated, I am writing this from Detroit, where Michigan sits essentially as one of the center points of the Great Lakes Region. Therefore, as I reflect on sustainable urbanism, I cannot help but think about what perhaps could be best called the climate triad: climate action, justice, and migration. It has been scientifically well documented that anything we build has implications well beyond the boundary lines of the building. Thus, many of the actions we take to adjust for climate change will affect many more people, particularly the most vulnerable human populations, as well as the general flora and fauna. Therefore, Climate Action + Climate Justice are inextricably linked.
…And…
Because of where we live, we should be prepared to create the policies and design the responses that address Climate Migration to our region and beyond. If we do not take a proactive view as the Sustainable Urban Design Summit is asking us to do, then as we live into the future we will be confronted with beige sprawl as far as the eye can see.
REGISTER FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN SUMMIT 2025 , NOV, 6 AT NEWLAB DETROIT HERE.
