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Post tags: community planning, detroit, Detroit rehabilitation, eco design, green design, Midtown Detroit, Sasaki Associates, sustainable design, Techtown District Plan

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Post tags: "sustainable development", "The Forest", Atelier Why, automobile industry, detroit, eco design, green design, Michigan, sustainable design, united states, Urban design, urban rehabilitation, urban revitalization

Read the rest of Collision Works is a Boutique Shipping Container Hotel Slated For Detroit

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", boutique hotel, Cargotecture, co-working facility, collision works, community center, community event space, container hotel, detroit, detroit collision works, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, koop.am, shipping container, shipping container hotel, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, the detroit hotel project

Joshua Smith is a 9-year-old boy who gets things done. His home city of Detroit is currently suffering from serious financial hardship, preventing it from providing some basic services, like maintaining the city’s parks. Frustrated with being unable to play due to the amount of rubbish on the ground, Joshua decided to take things into his own hands. He set up a lemonade stand and started selling organic lemonade, fruit punch, water and popcorn in his Russell Woods neighborhood. In just one week, he has raised $3,000 for the city’s parks!

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Post tags: detroit, detroit public parks, entreprenurial, genius children, joshua smith, mower gang, university of michigan

Read the rest of Ford Uses Edible and Recycled Materials To Make Eco-Friendly Car Parts

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Post tags: biomaterials, bioplastic, coir, detroit, ford, ford escape, Ford Motor, Kenaf, retired US currency, soy cushioning

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Post tags: "solar energy", Design 99, detroit, eco design, energy producing home, Erik Jutten, Fonds BKVB, green design, Partizan Publik, Power House, self sufficent home, sustainable design

Sales of GM’s Chevrolet Volt are stronger than ever, with sales in March spiking to 2,289. The numbers gave the Volt its best month ever – up 277 percent from one year ago. The good news comes despite recent negative press over battery fires that broke out in three Volts, and GM’s decision to temporarily cease manufacturing until April 23.

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Post tags: chevrolet, chevrolet volt, chevy volt, chevy volt sales, detroit, electric car, electric vehicles, general motors, GM, plug-in, plug-in hybrid, volt

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", bagley pedestrian bridge, border crossing, bridge, detroit, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green transportation, LED lighting, mexican town, pedestrian bridge, pedestrian friendly, redevelopment, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, us canada border

Read the rest of Detroit’s New Energy Efficient Airport is First to be Built Post 9/11

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", airport, detroit, detroit airport, detroit metropolitan wayne county airport, eco airport, eco design, Gensler, gensler detroit, green architecture, Green Building, green design, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Detroit was one of the US cities hit hardest by the recession, and this winter it finds itself with 18,000 individuals without a home – a quarter of whom are children. To help these individuals achieve some level of comfort in a dire situation, Veronika Scott, a junior at the Center for Creative Studies, designed a heated, waterproof jacket that turns into a sleeping bag at night. But best of all? Scott is employing the homeless themselves to produce the jacket, providing jobs and imparting valuable skills to these people in need.

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Post tags: detroit, eco-fashion, Empower Detroit, Ethical Fashion, fashion philanthropy, green fashion, multifunctional clothing, multifunctional fashion, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable styl, transformer clothing, transformer fashion, wearable shelter

Detroit was one of the places hit hardest by the economic crisis, and as such it’s dotted with an abundance of empty lots sitting completely unused. The fallow spaces have become a constant reminder to a city — whose population has been reduced by half in the past six decades — of the lack of jobs and productivity. However, there are a number of enterprising individuals who have taken it upon themselves to do something about this problem by turning the deserted lots into farms for food. A recent study by a team of researchers at Michigan State University found that by using the parcels of land owned by the city as farmland, Detroit residents have the potential to harvest a total of 75% of needed vegetables and 40% of needed fruit within their city limits.

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Post tags: city farm, create a city farm, detroit, detroit community garden, detroit empty lots, how to plant in a city, rethink detroit, urban garden detroit, urban gardening, what to do with empy lots

Ford has announced which lucky markets will be the first to receive the Focus Electric, their first all electric passenger car that can travel 100 miles on a full charge whilst creating zero CO2 emissions. In a press statement, Ford said that the markets were chosen after being judged on several criteria, including “commuting patterns, existing hybrid purchase trends, utility company collaboration and local government commitment to electrification”. As a result of the findings, the first cities selected to sell the new green wheels will be Atlanta, Austin and Houston, Texas, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Tucson, Portland, Raleigh Durham, Richmond, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

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Post tags: detroit, Detroit 2010, detroit auto show, Detroit2010, DetroitAutoShow, ford focus, Ford Focus BEV, ford focus electric, Ford Focus EV, FordFocus, FordFocusBev, FordFocusElectric, FordFocusEv, FordMustang

This room of carefully stacked wood wasn’t built by creative urban beavers – it’s an art installation made up of the outer timber of the surrounding crumbling house. The site is one of many houses in Detroit slated for demolition, but once this house is torn down, the wood sculpture will remain. Designed by Catie Newell and The Imagination Station, the project aims to revitalize the area with creative assemblages like this one. Read on to learn more about these Rust Belt builders (who are decidedly human) . . .

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Post tags: catie newell, detroit, eco-art, green design, Recycled Materials, salvaged landscape, sustainable design, the imagination station, Urban design

San Juan, Puerto Rico is about to do what many mainland American cities can only dream of — become a walkable city. It’s all part of a massive $1.5 billion plan that will improve mass transit, create new roads and intersections, and improve beach access.

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Post tags: city design, detroit, green design, puerto rico, san juan, walkable city

If you’ve ever ridden your bike on city streets, you’ve surely experienced the desire to inflict some pain on cars and their rather absent-minded — or plain vicious — drivers. Well, now you can! (Not that Inhabitat endorses violence or destruction of property in any way.) Meet the monster truck of the bike world, the aptly named BigDog — a 600-pound four-person “bike” that can roll right over a car.

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Post tags: bigdog, detroit, maker's faire, repurposed materials, sustainable design, tom wilson

The downturn in the economy only added to what was already a desperate situation in Detroit, Michigan. Over at the Architect’s Newspaper we spotted this great idea to bring the bustling atmosphere of Detroit back to life through futuristic transportation infrastructure. Dave Bing, Detroit’s Mayor announced in his State of the City address a series of drastic measures to get the city on its feet. Among those measures is re-creating the urban density that once made Detroit hum with energy. Another is finally getting the funding to start the first phase of a light rail project that will provide much needed public transportation to the city’s population.

Read the rest of Detroit Mayor Proposes Restructuring Landscape, Gets Light Rail Funded

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Post tags: alternative transportation, commuter train, dave bing, detroit, green transportation, green travel, light rail, Michigan, train

What if your car consumed carbon monoxide instead of spewing it out? Just such a vehicle was unveiled at last month’s SAE Congress in Detroit, which showcased some exciting green trends in the automotive industry. BMW stole the spotlight with its hydrogen-powered 7-series sedan that emits less carbon monoxide than is present in its environment. The car’s engine breaks down and converts carbon monoxide, essentially cleaning the air as it is driven.

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Post tags: 7 series, BMW, detroit, energy efficient vehicle, green vehicle, hydrogen car, SAE Congress, sedan