Abstract:
Detroit’s affordable housing issues are
mainly centered around availability. With
the excessive amount of vacancy, the
Milwaukee Junction neighborhood is a top
candidate for redevelopment. This thesis
explores neighborhood planning through
the lens of biophilic design as a means
to promote health and well-being for the
residents within the Milwaukee Junction
neighborhood. The City of Detroit created
a seven point plan to develop affordable
housing options to be funded in 2022
(detroitmi.gov). Out of the $203 million
provided, $100 million of those dollars
were set aside for five affordable housing
projects in Detroit (theneighborhoods).
As a result 536 affordable units were
created or preserved. One of the affordable
housing projects is located in the Milwaukee
Junction neighborhood.
The Planning to Stay neighborhood
framework written by William Morrish and
Catherine Brown (2000) provides a clear
understanding of the physical features
and themes within the neighborhood.
These physical features essentially define
a neighborhood and the themes are helpful
for analyzing a neighborhood. These
neighborhood elements in unison were used
to analyze Milwaukee Junction and a much
more developed neighborhood in Brush
Park. In order to successfully implement
affordable housing options a study of
different housing typologies needed to
occur.
The housing typologies studied are between
single family homes and large apartment
buildings. Some methods used to further
the process were mapping, interviews,
composing scale models, and taking
photos/videos. Using the findings from my
research related to affordable housing and
neighborhood planning, biophilic design will
be the key to connecting all these framing
concepts within the Milwaukee Junction
neighborhood. Biophilic design developed by
Terrapin Bright Green, wants us to connect
our inherent need to associate with nature
in the modern built environment. The 14
patterns associated with biophilic design
are meant to promote the health benefits
of a space. These patterns can be applied to
various scales and should be catered to the
user population.
The goal is to develop a plan that incorporates
biophilic design, the neighborhood elements,
and affordable housing options.
Description:
This thesis explores neighborhood planning
through the lens of biophilic design as a
means to promote health and well-being
for the residents within the Milwaukee
Junction neighborhood. The idea is to
redevelop vacant lots/buildings within the
neighborhood for uses that strive towards
revitalization.
Regardless of where you are in the world, the
need for shelter is one of life’s necessities.
Detroit, specifically, has an ongoing issue
with housing availability at affordable rates.
In 2022 there was a 7 point, $203 Million
plan introduced by the Mayor of Detroit
and Detroit city council members (Detroit
Housing Plan of 2022). The plan is to develop
affordable housing options for Detroiters to
be funded. Out of the $203 million provided,
$100 million of those dollars were set
aside for five affordable housing projects in
Detroit (theneighborhoods). As a result 536
affordable units were created or preserved.
One of the affordable housing projects
is located in the Milwaukee Junction
neighborhood.
To couple the affordability aspect of housing,
the public spaces outside the homes should
serve to promote the health and well
being of the users in these spaces. Terra
bright green examined the relationship
between biophilia and design. The authors
developed 14 patterns of biophilic design
that ensure health and well being rooted
from nature. The scale in which it is needed
to approach housing and public spaces is the
neighborhood scale.
The “Planning to Stay: A Collaborate Project”
by Wiliam R. Morrish and Catherine M.
Brown , is a framework for neighborhood
planning that relates to liveability and
portrays the identity of the neighborhood.
The neighborhood elements and organizing
themes in combination can be used to
analyze neighborhoods.
The first of three questions guiding me
through my research and findings is:
Where is the best location for affordable
housing? In addition, how will the
inclusion of affordable housing impact the
neighborhood assets?
How can biophilia improve a neighborhood?
Can the patterns of biophilic design be
a solution for redevelopment for vacant
parking lots and land?
How does the community contribute to
the neighborhood’s identity? What’s the
community like and how is it conveyed in
the built environment.?
Biophilic design can be used to incorporate
nature back into the neighborhood scale.
The natural elements of biophilic design
will promote the health and well being
of the users of the spaces. The inclusion
of affordable and market housing avoids
displacement while supporting a truly
mixed-income neighborhood of residents.
Evidence sustaining this thesis would
include interviews with the community,
photography of existing conditions,
building typology study, mapping of
vacancies relating to buildings and lots. In
addition to any existing affordable housing,
parking lots, greenspaces, and biophilic
elements. As a result, the mapping methods
and interviews would provide areas for
opportunity within the focus area. The
building typology study provides various
housing options for implementation within
the focus area.
The critique of this approach could be
related to the affordability of biophilic
design elements. At what point is the limit
of “too much” nature. On the contrary,
some questions arise like does nature have
any effect on humans anymore? Has the
use of technology diminished our natural
connection to nature? The critique that
biophilic design at this scale has not been
tested before.
The limitations are indeed the perception
of the elements of biophilic design. Nature
has been excused from multiple aspects of
design for so long that it might appear to
be a new phenomenon to some people. The
design might have to go as far as tricking
the user to avoid a predetermined reaction
which could take away from the curated
experience. The excursion of biophilia
or nature in the public interviews of the
Milwaukee Junction community is a
limitation that could have been revisited.
The neighborhood’s identity relies on
the community that makes it up. The
neighborhood’s assets rely on the people
that make up the community. The people
that make up the community need available
and affordable housing options to reside in.
The use of biophilic design at these different
scales of a neighborhood will