Resources | Design Core

Product Design
Guide

The Design Guide for Product Business is a practical guide for entrepreneurs designing and developing artisan, craft-based, and manufactured products.

Real Estate Development Guide

The Design Guide for Real Estate Development is a practical workbook to help developers address each part of the real estate development process and integrate local culture into projects authentically.

Design Guide for Neighborhood Business

The Design Guide for Neighborhood Business empowers and inspires Detroit’s brick-and-mortar business owners with design information, examples, exercises and more.

Product Business - FPO

FPO

Guide for Community Engagement

The guide was co-developed by the College for Creative Studies, Community Arts Partnerships, & Design Core to provide a framework for creating successful projects and lasting relationships between institutions and the broader Detroit community.

Neighborhood Business Guide Worksheets

The Design Guide for Neighborhood Business Worksheets accompany the guide to provide real-world examples, guide thought processes and set business owners up for success.

State of Urban Manufacturing

The Design Guide for Neighborhood Business empowers and inspires Detroit’s brick-and-mortar business owners with design information, examples, exercises and more.

Detroit City of Design Action Plan

The Design Guide for Neighborhood Business empowers and inspires Detroit’s brick-and-mortar business owners with design information, examples, exercises and more.

Fennigan’s Farms

Afro-AgroFuture Design Space and Community Kitchen Table: This project created a physical space for neighbors and visitors to experience the ways that sustainable design and agriculture can work together to rebuild in areas that have experienced disinvestment. This model is designed to be replicated across the City of Detroit, in disaster zones, and locations where communities are vulnerable.

East Canfield Innovation Hub

The Innovation Hub is a space dedicated to improving the lives of Detroit residents by inspiring innovation and expanding opportunities to problem solve. The Hub provides tools and space for residents and creatives to connect, nurture ideas and workshop solutions, and mobilize innovation quickly.

Solar Party Detroit

Solar Party Detroit, is a Detroit-based, women-owned company that seeks to educate clients and the general public about solar power, while making clean, mobile, electricity more accessible. Since 2016, they’ve worked with clients across many sectors and disciplines to power small and large-scale events. For their City of Design Program project, they provided Detroit musicians with an off-grid workspace where they can run their equipment on 100% solar infrastructure, and learn the basics of photovoltaics and other clean energy sources. The residency culminated in an off-grid, solar-powered musical presentation held on Earth Day each year.

The JOY Project

Through the City of Design Program, theJOYproject expanded their campus to better support community resiliency in times of crisis. The Joy Project designed an accessible All Season's structure used as a gathering space, equipped with a community Kitchen, methane digester, Solar and Wi-Fi accessible to community members in the area.

McDougall-Hunt Social Off-grid Urban Landscape (SOUL)

The McDougall-Hunt Neighborhood Sustainable Redevelopment Implementation Plan is a sustainable set of strategies that work together to envision a holistic neighborhood future that is driven by McDougall-Hunt community members. The community open space incorporates off-grid energy solutions (wind, solar), run-off mitigation (permeable hardscaping and native plantings) into a relaxing, aesthetically pleasing, and accessible space. This project also works to restore native habitat for plants and small animals, enhancing the ecological resilience of our city.

Urban Acupuncture

The Urban Acupuncture Alley Activation project, a collaboration between Rescue MI Nature Now and the University of Michigan, aims to create an Alley Activation Toolkit empowering communities to rejuvenate alleys and address urban challenges like flooding, blight, and pollution; Rescue MI Nature Now offers resources and workshops to guide residents in initiating lasting neighborhood transformations.