The City of Detroit's Planning Department has selected three design form partners to help create a vision for revitalizing its vacant commercial strips, and reducing the bureaucratic hurdles that can stand in the way of redevelopment. CHA, SmithGroup JJR, and LAAVU / Farr Associates / PlaceMakers were selected from among 38 high-quality submissions received from across the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Pink Zoning Detroit is a research project that targets three commercial corridors in the city, for which the selected firms will create a vision for redevelopment. Then, those ideas will be tested against the City's existing approval processes to identify how City codes or regulations may be changed to make redevelopment simpler. Upon completion, the project's findings will be forwarded to the City Planning Commission and to City Council for their consideration.