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November 9, 2023, Newlab Detroit
A one day event shaping sustainable city futures through ideas and insights. Fostering networking opportunities engaging in discussions on urban cities and sustainability

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

9AM to 9PM

DETROIT

A ONE DAY EVENT
SHAPING SUSTAINABLE CITY FUTURE’S THROUGH DEVELOPMENT, MOBILITY, SMART CITY, AND ENGAGEMENT INSIGHTS

fostering OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGING DISCUSSIONS ON THE NEXUS OF DESIGN SOLUTIONS AND APPLICATIONS

JOIN THE SUSTAINABLE IMPACT FORUMS

Together, let’s transcend simply going to events, and engage throughout the year during newly created and curated bi-annual Sustainable Impact Forums. These are online meet-ups focused on topics that emerge out of the Sustainable Urban Design Summits.

Listening to you, we see our mission expanding far beyond simply hosting discussions; What if we, together, were to create outcomes and connections with a focus on making a difference in the cities we live in?
 
Join us for these digital conversations where we will explore vital topics like:
  • Sustainable Urban Development
  • Multimodal Mobility
  • Neighborhood Engagement
By signing up, you will be participating with a community of leaders, policymakers, and individuals who share a passion for driving enriching, sustainable change in their cities and communities.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

PAST SPEAKERS

Carla Walker-Miller

Founder, CEO, Walker-Miller Energy Services

Moderator

Melanie A. Markowicz

Executive Director, Greektown Neighborhood Partnership

Jeanette Pierce

Founder & President, City Institute

Moderator

Frans De Witte

Partner and Architect, MVRDV

Maria M. Galarza

Interim Deputy Director Office of Sustainability, City of Detroit

Roberto Jenkins

Associate Principal | Mixed-Use, Buildings, Arcadis

Jermaine R. Ruffin

Senior Vice President of Neighborhoods, Invest Detroit

Jonathan Fahling

Principal Architect / Project Manager, AECOM

Ryan Friedrichs

Vice President, Related Companies

Donna Givens Davidson

President & CEO, Eastside Community Network

Christopher Moyer

Senior Director of Communications, Visit Detroit

Rinske Brand

Founder, BRAND The Urban Agency,

Katy Trudeau

President, Eastern Market Partnership

Kimathi L. Boothe

Vice President of Energy Operations, Dunamis Clean Energy Partners

Liesl Eichler Clark

Director, Climate Action Engagement, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan

Chris Thomas

Co-Founder and Partner, Assembly Ventures - Detroit, Berlin and Silicon Valley

Moderator

John Waller

Managing Director, Principal, Gensler

Kathryn Snorrason

VP & Deputy Chief Mobility Officer, Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification

Josef Hjelmaker

Co-Founder & CEO, Electric Outdoors

Sarah Hayosh

Director of Land Use and Sustainability, Detroit Future City

Moderator

Mark de la Vergne

Advisor, Cavnue

Tony G. Geara

Deputy Chief of Mobility Innovation, City of Detroit

Ivana Kalafatic

Founder, 2gathr and
Detroitisit

Moderator

Jonathan Rost

North America Business Development and R&D Director, Valeo Powertrain Systems

Moderator

Roshni Shokar

Associate Director of Platform Experience, Michigan Central

Mathew Staudt

Director NYC Office Coastal Resilience Projects, ONE Architecture

MARK LUCKHARDT

SVP Land Development,
Bedrock Detroit

Moderator

Bryan Boyer

Faculty Director, Urban Technology Degree Program Taubman College, University of Michigan

Jan Top

Attaché for Infrastructure and Water Management, working with Netherlands Consulate General in San Francisco

Ian Lambert

Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, College for Creative Studies

Sam Shapiro

Founder & CEO of Grounded Electric RVs

Siobhan Burger

Strategist in the Intersection of Social/Spatial Challenge

Bernard Swiecki

Vice President of Mobility and Research, Detroit Regional Partnership and Global Epicenter of Mobility (GEM)

Moderator

Frank van Swol

Program Director Central Station District & MIRT City of Eindhoven

2023 AGENDA

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9

Upon arrival, attendees can enjoy coffee and networking

while exploring exhibitors areas and Scott Hocking’s featured artwork.

Ivana Kalafatic, founder of Detroitisit and 2gathr,

will begin the summit with an introduction.

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT
What is the intersection of social equity and quality of life?

Time and place, what do we do with both? Two factors that impact the equity of living in a just city. How do we consider the future of land use, transportation, social services, circularity, sustainable practices, in terms of resources, future goals, quality of life, and the communities that make up our cities.

  • Sarah Hayosh, director of land use and sustainability, Detroit Future City
  • Frank van Swol, Program Director Central Station District & MIRT, City of Eindhoven
  • Moderator – Ivana Kalafatic, founder, 2gathr and Detroitisit

SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN
The nuts and bolts of building a resilient city

Sustainable design for a city has numerous complexities and elements to instill in terms of urban planning and its infrastructure projects. When considering project development, a resilient city could implement the reuse of materials, technological forward solutions, mitigation solutions, green urbanism, carbon sequestering, etc.

  • Jonathan Fahling, Principal Architect / Project Manager, AECOM
  • Frans De Witte, partner and architect, MVRDV
  • Ryan Friedrichs, vice president, Related Companies
  • Mathew Staudt, director NYC office coastal resilience projects, One Architecture
  • Moderator – Liesl Clark, director, sustainable climate action engagement, University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability

MULTIMODAL MOBILITY
Getting past the barriers of innovating in mobility

Changing culture and experiences people are used to is hard. Add to that innovating and building a socially equitable model for a more sustainable future, for an audience that still needs to be educated on the opportunities and use cases. How do cities work with businesses and organizations to build the mobility structures for the future that awaits us? Access to infrastructure for mobility in cities includes equitable deployment of infrastructure in underrepresented areas/communities.

  • Kimathi L. Boothe, vice president of energy operations, Dunamis Clean Energy Partners
  • Tony G. Geara, Deputy Chief of Mobility innovation, City of Detroit
  • Jan Top, Attaché for Infrastructure and Water Management, working with Netherlands Consulate General in San Francisco
  • Moderator – Carla Walker-Miller, founder and CEO, Walker-Miller Energy Services

SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN
Integration Plays a Crucial Role in the Building of Our Cities

Why does a city need a sustainability agenda when considering its built environment? Industry, the environment itself, transit, civic and social services, a built community and more intertwine in cities – how do a city office, engineers, developers, and architects work through the intricacies that make the future of a resilient city a success?

  • Maria M. Galarza, Office of Sustainability, interim deputy director
  • John Waller, managing director, Gensler
  • Roberto Jenkins, Associate Principal, Arcadis
  • Mark Luckhardt, SVP land development, Bedrock
  • Moderator – Liesl Clark, director, sustainable climate action engagement, University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability

INNOVATION IN SUSTAINABILITY
Applying Systems Thinking to the Sustainable Design Process

Sustainability could be considered an interdisciplinary activity. What role do research and design play in the making of place? What about technology, and data? How can we better apply design to the process of how things get built, sustainably?

  • Bryan Boyer, Faculty Director, Urban Technology degree program Taubman College, University of Michigan
  • Ian Lambert, dean of graduate studies and research, College for Creative Studies
  • Siobhan Burger, Strategist in the Intersection of Social/Spatial Challenge
  • Moderator – Chris Thomas, co-Founder and partner, Assembly Ventures

Neighborhood Development and Engagement
Purposeful Placekeeping and Investment in Community

Investment without displacement is the focus of building equitable cities for all in the community. How can we become intentional towards legacy place making, thus place keeping for the residents of a city? What measures can we take for positive impact on our cities? What, if any, strategic guidelines could exist for investment in our neighborhoods and how can we apply them to become a more resilient city?

  • Katy Trudeau, president, Eastern Market Partnership
  • Jermaine R. Ruffin, Senior Vice President of Neighborhoods with Invest Detroit
  • Rinske Brand, founder & CEO, Brand The Urban Agency 
  • Moderator – Jeanette Pierce, founder and president, City Institute

Taking place the same day as the Sustainable Urban Design Summit at Newlab, Detroit, the Urban Dialogues, led by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Chicago, are three, curated workshops and conversations focused on Urban DesignMobility, and Community Engagement. Experts and innovators here have a chance to engage in and attend deep dive conversations into each of the three topics alongside their peers.

MULTIMODAL MOBILITY
Applying New Thinking to New Models of Moving

The Motor City becomes the Mobility City as technology and solutions get applied to new models around mobility. Does clustering like-minded innovators add to better innovation through programs like Michigan Central and Newlab, Detroit? How does a start up mind set encourage progress in mobility?

  • Roshni Shokar, Innovation Services Team, Michigan Central
  • Josef Hjelmaker, Co-Founder & CEO, Electric Outdoors
  • Sam Shapiro, Founder & CEO, Grounded Electric RVs
  • Moderator – Bernard Swiecki, Vice President of Mobility and Research, Detroit Regional Partnership and Global Epicenter of Mobility (GEM)

Multimodal Mobility
How Mobility and Infrastructure Will Affect Policy

What does multimodal mobility for a city look like and what roles do innovation zones play in bringing mobility to life? The process of aligning city, state, private, and policy is complex, what does it take for success? Aligning urban planning, mobility strategy, and process has a part in the determination of infrastructure and community impact – how is that coming together for the autonomous vehicle corridor in Michigan?

  • Mark de la Vergne, advisor, Cavnue
  • Ryan Michael, senior executive, Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility & Electrification
  • Chris Thomas, co-founder and partner, Assembly Ventures
  • Moderator – Jonathan Rost, North America Business Development and R&D director, Valeo

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT
Ways of Bridging the Past, Present, and Future

In honoring the stewardship of place, people are the greatest asset in a city such as Detroit. An inclusive community honors its environmental and economic needs such as considering and supporting generational businesses, safety in community, public health, mobility and infrastructure equity, historic preservation, and sustainable circular structures.

  • Donna Givens Davidson, president & CEO, Eastside Community Network
  • Melanie Markowicz, executive director, Greektown Neighborhood Partnership
  • Christopher Moyer, senior director of communications, Visit Detroit
  • Moderator – Jeanette Pierce, founder and president, City Institute

Join us for wine, networking, and live entertainment by DJ Blu to end the day!

Parking is available on-street or at the Bagley Mobility Hub Parking Garage, located at 1501 Wabash Street.

ON-SITE INSTALLATION ARTIST

Scott Hocking

Scott Hocking

Scott Hocking born in in 1975, in Redford Township, Michigan, has lived and worked in Detroit since 1996. He creates site-specific installations, sculptures, photography and video projects, often using found materials and neglected locations. Inspired by subjects ranging from ancient mythologies to current events, his artworks focus on transformation, ephemerality, chance, the cycles of nature, and patterns of human behavior through time. His site-specific works involve deep-dives into history, and attempt to intersect our present time with the past.

RELICS is a large-scale modular installation, originally created for the 2001 exhibition Artists Take on Detroit: Projects for the Tricentennial, at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

A labor-intensive collaboration with Clinton Snider, we proposed an immersive room-sized installation, chronicling the 300 -year history of Detroit through a floor-to-ceiling collection of found objects and mixed media sculptures.

 

Building approximately 400 wooden boxes in our respective studios, the artists used thousands of eroded man-made objects found through- out Detroit and created each individual RELICS box to become part of towering grid-like reliquary walls.

Based on ideas of scientific taxonomy, archeology, wunderkammers, and the talismanic qualities of ancient artifacts, we saw the installation as a comment on natural history museums of the future, how quickly objects from our time become obsolete, and a way to recycle and recontextualize wasted materials into objects of beauty and art

Click here to learn more about Scott.

PAST SPONSORS

PAST SUPPORTERS

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A SPONSOR OR PARTNER? CONTACT US HERE.

PAST EXHIBITORS

CIRCULARITY IN MOTION:
SPECIALTY GIFTS FOR 2023 ATTENDEES!

FLOAT GLASS VALET TRAYS

We decided to partner with Urban Ashes this year and share what a true circular economy, friendly, upcycled, and sustainable gift product can look like.

Luckily, SUDS 2023 attendees went home with either a Float Glass Valet Tray, upcycled from Guardian Glass in Detroit, or a Reclaimed Wood Bud Vase from the Ford Vehicle Performance & Electrification Center in Allen Park, Michigan construction site.

Original Source:
Guardian Glass

1932
Founded in Detroit, Michigan

1970
Opens first float glass plant in Carleton, MI Recycled + Repurposed by Urban Ashes

2009
Founded in Ann Arbor, MI.

Float glass, commonly found in picture frames, poses challenges in recycling, and often ends up in landfills. Nevertheless, it can be effectively repurposed by casting it with other picture frame glass to create new items.

Each ton of unused glass represents a missed opportunity to leverage the 800 pounds of CO2 involved in its production. Upcycling float glass through casting techniques preserves the legacy of the individuals and the processes that gave rise to this product, while reducing the need for fresh glass production.

RECLAIMED WOOD BUD VASES

Two semi trucks full of urban red oak logs were diverted from the chipper and reclaimed from the Ford Vehicle Performance & Electrification Center in Allen Park MI construction site. Three massive 9’x24’ conference tables and 2 large wall sculptures produced from the fallen trees for the new building.

New sustainable product put to use from the urban red oak logs upcycled to wood bud vases for Detroitisit and the third annual Sustainable Urban Design Summit 2023.

Original Source – Ford Vehicle Performance & Electrification Center in Allen Park MI

The urban wood and finished products traveled less 175 miles.

1.43 metric tons of carbon remains sequestered within these urban wood goods

Equal to planting 87 seedlings and growing them for 10 years

Every year in the U.S., we fail to capture a valuable natural resource – furniture grade urban lumber from our fallen urban trees – to the tune of 46 MILLION metric tons.

That loss also releases approximately 84 MILLION metric tons of CO2 emissions equaling about 1.75% of U.S. total emissions. If we captured just 50% of that available lost urban wood, it would be approximately equivalent to planting 694 MILLION tree seedlings each year and growing them for 10 years.

SUMMIT MISSION

TO LEVERAGE THE FUTURE-FOCUSED MINDSET OF APPLYING SOLUTION-BASED DESIGN THINKING TO URBAN DEVELOPMENT, MOBILITY, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, WITH A READINESS TO APPLY INNOVATIVE CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRACTICES

SUMMIT TOPICS

Our focus is on the human impact and human condition of growth, opportunity, challenges, and the outcome of conversations around the topics.

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT

Exploring challenges and vision for the development of neighborhoods in the physical and social domains including design, investments, and planning, the socio economic dynamic, equity, empowerment, and the interdependency of a built community.

SUSTAINABLE
URBAN DEVELOPMENT


Drawing valuable insights for thoughtful and sustainable planning of infrastructure, services, design, technology, and innovation. While considering a circular economy, sustainable architecture, smart city development, spatial planning, infrastructure design; each element serving as a cornerstone for bolstering a city in the face of climate change, economic downturns, and various civic and social realities.

multimodal
mobility

The impact multiple modes of mobility will have on a city, and individuals that partake in it. What will it take to build a smart mobility enhanced city, what services and support are needed, what infrastructure is required, what equitable conversations need to be had, what can we learn from the past for the future.

URBAN DIALOGUES

Taking place the same day as the Sustainable Urban Design Summit at Newlab, Detroit, the Urban Dialogues, led by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Chicago, are three, curated workshops and conversations focused on Urban DesignMobility, and Community Engagement. Experts and innovators here have a chance to engage in and attend deep dive conversations into each of the three topics alongside their peers.

BOTH URBAN DIALOGUES AND THE SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN SUMMIT FOCUS IS TO GENERATE NOVEL NEW IDEAS THAT AGGREGATE EFFORTS AND IDEAS ACROSS CONTINENTS AND EXPERTISE.

Play Video

2022

Sustainable Urban Design Summit Overview

At the Madison Building, on October 13, 2022, creative solutions were developed through a global yet hyperlocal program focused on Sustainable Urban Planning, the Circular Economy, Climate and the City, Smart City, Energy Efficiency, Social Justice in Urban Design, and more. A multi-layered conversation is envisioned as a bridge builder to grow the best solutions for long-term partnerships and opportunities between the two geographies.

Play Video

2021

Sustainable Urban Design Summit Overview

October 19 & 21, 2021 together with The Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Chicago, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Washington DC, and Dutch Design Week, we co-hosted the first virtual Sustainable Urban Design Summit on Zoom. Over two days, we explored the challenges and opportunities in the built environment with U.S. and Dutch thought leaders of sustainable urban design and the circular economy.

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