The Detroit 1O1 lecture series 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?

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.

Detroit 101 is organized by Marc Maxey, M.Arch candidate, School of Architecture. Detroit 1O1 is made possible with generous support from the Princeton Community including The Lewis Center for the Arts, American Studies Department, Department of African American Studies, Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Princeton School of Architecture, Princeton Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism, & the Humanities, Dalai Lama Fellows, and the Architecture Association of Princeton.