This design studio explored what happens when urbanism is decoupled from the concept of economic growth. It investigated alternatives to the current world paradigm that favors unbridled development over social well-being and environmental sustainability. The studio embraced obsolescence and “unbuilding” as urban strategies to develop spatial networks that seek balance and equilibrium over mindless expansion.

Subtractive design tactics, downscaling strategies, disassembly logics, and soft construction methods were used to generate designs which aim to work with the existing abandoned building stock in Detroit, minimizing the use of resources while experimenting with processes of adaptation. The studio investigated these alternative operative techniques across several urban and architectural scales of the city, developing individual positions, narratives, meanings and programs in relation to the theme of rewilding.