Design
On a World Stage, Architects Imagine Detroit as the City of the Future
At this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, 12 designs envision how “the capital of urban ruins” can move forward from crisis.
This week at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Detroit will represent the United States as a city of the future—one that could provide inspiration to cities around the globe.
At first, the beleaguered city may seem like an odd choice. “Detroit has a very strong image throughout the world as the capital of urban ruins,” says Robert Fishman, an urban historian at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. “It's a kind of symbol of what went wrong with the United States during the years of the urban crisis.”