The Handbuilt City - Dispatches from the Rust Belt

If we fail to push for market transformation oriented toward climate adaptation solutions, the market will do it on its own. Like, in a really bad way. This has the unintended consequence, however, of incentivizing better decisions about development and planning.

Entrepreneurship Urban Planning

Detroit’s Far East: The Warren Corridor is Headed For A Makeover

September 1, 2020September 1, 2020 admin 0 Comments cadieux, community development, crosstown bus, DDOT, Detroit, east english village, east side, east warren, eastside, grosse pointe, strategic neighborhood fund, streetscaping, warren

Detroit’s East Warren corridor is getting some love– from the city’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund, and from entrepreneur’s attracted by a broad range of opportunity and affordable real estate.

Movements & Organizing Public Safety

Nice To See You Again: DPD Back in Full Force

August 23, 2020August 23, 2020 admin 0 Comments black lives matter, BLM, Detroit, detroit police, detroit police chief james craig, detroit will breathe, hudson's site, james craig, mike duggan, national lawyers guild, police, police abolition, police brutality, police reform, shinola, violence

Detroit protests have been largely quiet since June. This changed last night when protesters downtown, challenging the new federal law enforcement intervention in Detroit being championed by Mike Duggan, Police Chief James Craig, and US Attorney General William Barr, were met with batons, pepper spray, and tear gas.

Construction Energy Efficiency

New Client Who Dis

August 17, 2020August 16, 2020 admin 0 Comments ASHRAE, BPI, building code, building envelope, climate action plan, climate change, detroit climate action collaborative, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, energy auditing, energy audits, energy code, energy efficiency, energy waste reduction, energystar, eric douglas, hers, Kevin McNeely, Kimberly Hill Knott, LEED, RESNET

Handbuilt’s newest client is energy building guru Kevin McNeely, who works on energy audits and architectural energy consulting services around the Midwest.

Construction Home Improvement

Home Improvement: Lessons In Deck Paint, or, Customer Service 101

August 14, 2020August 14, 2020 admin 0 Comments deck paint, decks, home improvement, home renovation, home repair, porches, rehab, rehabilitation, Renovation

In which Nat argues with an $11 billion company over some utterly foolish application instructions on a gallon of very, very expensive deck paint.

Adaptation & Resilience Climate Environment

Land Hurricanes, Resilient Design, And Other Stuff To Think About

August 14, 2020August 14, 2020 admin 0 Comments climate, climate change, climate resilience, construction, derecho, extreme weather, grinnell, ICF, iowa, midwest, panelized construction, residential construction, resilience, storms, weather, wind, wind resistance

Extreme weather, like the recent derecho storm that ripped through Iowa, is exposing the fragility of the built environment. Fortunately, in thinking about how to protect ourselves, we have the ability to combine human technological ingenuity with the systems nature already built.

Business & Economics Finance

I’m Getting An MBA Because You People Are Wrong

August 13, 2020 admin 0 Comments 2020 presidential election, finance, for-profit prisons, kamala harris, leftism, liberalism, mass incarceration, MBA, policy, policy reform, prison abolition, prison-industrial complex, S&P 500, stocks, stonks

A tweet about Kamala Harris highlights how woefully ignorant many people are about financial markets and how this harms us in the quest for formulating
meaningful policy, change, and discourse.

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