Michigan-Mellon’s renewed Egalitarian Metropolis cycle of funding focuses on the city of Detroit and ways that creative practice and the urban humanities can equitably address urban recovery. In tangible ways, The University of Michigan Architecture Preparatory Program (ArcPrep) is already doing just that: creating a sense of optimism and agency for Detroit public high school juniors interested in design and its affiliated fields. 

Through an intensive, semester-long studio taught by our Mellon Fellows in Architecture, young designers learn to critically discern Detroit’s complex spatial histories as they explore ways to shape the city’s possible futures. The program takes the students’ talents, creativity, and expertise very seriously, nurturing an inclusionary pedagogical model based broadly on egalitarian educational ideals. In the process, we bring together a network of Taubman College faculty and students, Detroit institutions, community and government organizations, and professional enterprises into conversation and collaboration with students. In the past, ArcPrep has partnered with the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Cultivator Community Land Trust, and the Sidewalk Festival, to name a few. With each partnership, we situated culturally contingent, place-based design exercises for students to directly engage with the city and its leaders.