Urban Futures

Urban Futures is a campus-wide initiative developed to expand community-based teaching and scholarship related to the future of urban human settlements.

How does "Urban Futures" intersect with Community Engagement?

OCEL is looking forward to supporting the campus-wide initiative, "Urban Futures". show how Urban Futures work can align with OCEL's charge to institutionalize community engagement on campus.

venn diagram 1st side: community engagement - mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources, deliverables for both university and community, enhances community capacity and contributes to student/faculty learning outcomes, research and decision-making involves (and even prioritizes) opinions and needs of community partners, works toward building collaborative and sustainable long-term relationships. 2nd side: urban futures. contributes toward smart, efficient, sustainable, healthy, safe, affordable, culturally rich, and equitable urban living, builds and strengthens inter- and transdisciplinary networks for urban research and search for holistic solutions to urban problems, examines and develops spatial and socio-ecological sustainability perspectives on the urban environment and on urban-rural dependencies and interactions, examines the cultural, political, and economic complexity of urban spaces and seek to utilize their interconnectedness. Both: A contribution toward enhancing urban experiences achieved through mutually beneficial engagement with an urban community partner — (Muzzin, 2023)

Professor of Geology and Director of the Environmental Interpretive Center, Jacob Napieralski, was recently published in The Conversation to discuss his . "We found that flood risk was disproportionately distributed, with historically redlined neighborhoods bearing the greatest brunt of flood risk" (Napieralski, 2024).

Dr. Napieralski recommends in the article that investment must go into understanding at-risk cities' "hidden hydrology" - through mapping and green stormwater infrastructure. These findings are invaluable to Detroiters and residents of historically redlined cities across the country. "In my view, marginalized communities need to have a strong voice in the search for solutions. Discrimination against these communities helped create the current problem. Listening to them now is key to both minimizing flood damage and beginning to right a historical injustice" (Napieralski, 2024). Thank you, Dr. Napieralski, for contributing to a happy, healthy, and thriving Urban Future!

View accessible version of Programs and Initiatives report here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/avrdhzk3qsicw11p3d3a1/Programs-and-Initiatives-5-15-25.xlsx?rlkey=11eyq9qorls8558cnbv9gfwoz&st=0vvxypdh&dl=0

You can enter your own Urban Futures research, project, or course in ��-Dearborn's Community-Engagement Database, Collaboratory. The above image is a bar chart depicting the different Programs and Initiatives encompassed by the activities currently in Collaboratory - Urban Futures being the most prominent program/initiative documented so far. If you would like assistance entering your Urban Futures activity into Collaboratory, reach out to Elspeth ([email protected]).