2024 Update:

Challenging conventional paradigms of urban renewal, Detroit Cultivator is a comprehensive guiding plan developed over five years in Detroit’s historic North End. Conceived to transform the six-acre Oakland Avenue Urban Farm into a vibrant civic commons, the project integrates food production, cultural activities, and civic assets with the goal of reinforcing the community’s social and economic networks. Initially an experimental urban prototype centered on cultural programming, it has evolved into Detroit’s first and to date only community land trust, dedicated to equitable regeneration.

Merging agricultural production, cultural endeavors, business incubation, and ecological stewardship to nurture a sustainable and inclusive urban environment, Detroit Cultivator offers a holistic approach to urban development, addressing social fragmentation, economic disparity, and environmental sustainability in equal measure. In its strategic framework, the project not only works to ensure access to nutritious food and the development of affordable housing, it seeks to empower local residents by providing opportunities to acquire the skills necessary towards the collective self-management of the built environment.

Detroit Cultivator is a multi-disciplinary effort to transform the six-acre Oakland Avenue Urban Farm into an experimental urban prototype for equitable regeneration. The plan combines agricultural production, cultural activity, business incubation, and ecological stewardship to envision a neo-rural landscape that is both economically and ecologically sustainable.

There are over 1300 urban farms in Detroit: some covering 40 acres and operating at an industrial scale, others converting a single lot into a resource just for a few families. While most would agree to the substantive benefits of urban agriculture, few initiatives have evolved into sustainable models for ecological diversification, economic resurgence and infrastructural efficiency. We are working with the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm on a plan to unifying the site into an operational (agri)cultural landscape.

Oakland Av Urban Farm from akoaki on Vimeo.

DETROIT CULTIVATOR

Detroit, Michigan, 2016-present

Project Leads: Anya Sirota, Jean Louis Farges

Landscape Architect: Christophe Ponceau

Community Partner: Oakland Avenue Urban Farm

Design Team: Jonathan Watkins, Taylor Montgomery, Sam Okolita, Matthew Story, Annelise Heeringa, Christopher Campbell, Megan Mohney

Production Team: Arvinder Singh, Morgan Stackman, Theresa Kaplan, Rafael Kopper, Sabrina Herbosa Reyes, Alix Eoche-duval, Lindsay Karasik, Loran Newman, Neal Oliver, Gabrielle Tanneau, Lorie Bayen, Laurianne Carra, Fernand Bretillot, Louise Kalfas-Brat, Audrey Adellon, Lucas Rigney, Mayte Vega

This project is made possible through a grant from ArtPlace America. Additional support provided by the University of Michigan Office of Research.

Building Societies: Detroit’s Micro Utopian Urbanisms: Journeys in People-Centred Design

Akoaki is blending design disciplines in Detroit