Detroit 101: Urbanism & Design

DETROIT 101 Lecture Series
View poster - See video below

Wednesday, March 2
12p–1:30p

Urbanism & Design

Maurice Cox, Planning Director, City of Detroit

Maurice Cox, is the Planning Director for the City of Detroit. He is a graduate of Cooper Union where he received his BArch. Cox has taught at University of Virginia, Syracuse University, and the GSD. Cox was the design director of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, after serving as a council member and then the mayor for the city of Charlottesville. Cox is a recipient of the Latrobe Fellowship from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and has received numerous awards and honors for his approach to urban design and community engagement. Most recently, Cox was the Associate Dean for Community Engagement at Tulane University School of Architecture.

The DETROIT 101 Lecture Series
Curated by Marc Maxey

The story of Detroit is well known: A once thriving ‘motor city’—the fourth largest in the country—now deindustrialized, underpopulated, and struggling to rebuild itself after bankruptcy. Academics are quick to speculate on solutions for the city’s rebirth, tourists visit the ruinous neighborhoods with awe, architects and artists see the city as a blank slate for imaginative proposals. Yet the real story of Detroit goes quietly untold.

The Detroit 101 lecture series at Princeton University’s School of Architecture will focus on the underlying causes that perpetuated Detroit’s decline, and use this as a lens to supplant the usual disciplinary rhetoric and explore new territories across multiple fields of study. With increased attention on Detroit and urgent calls for social justice in America, many disciplines are retelling the city’s history while others are projecting its future. We must ask ourselves: is the contemporary narrative of Detroit based on a fact or fiction?

All events will be held in Betts Auditorium located in the School of Architecture. Lunch will be provided, and all are welcome. For more information, please visit the Princeton University School of Architecture’s main page: soa.princeton.edu

Marc Maxey is a recpient of the 2015 Princeton University Dalai Lama Fellowhip for his project:

A Citizen’s Guide To Real Estate Investment

Detroit 101 was made possible with generous support from the Princeton University Community:
The Lewis Center for the Arts
American Studies Department
Department of African American Studies
Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies
Office of the Vice President for Campus Life
Office of the Provost
Politics Department
Princeton University School of Architecture
Princeton Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities
Dalai Lama Fellows
Architecture Association of Princeton
Woodrow Wilson School
Undergraduate Student Government
Graduate Student Government