Foundations 19 – Infrastructure Space

This mobile workshop also dealt with the interaction between in- frastructure and community. The leaders Dan Pitera and Diane van Buren walked with the participants along more than 10 km of the Beltline Greenway, a green corridor along a former railway line, which links various businesses. One of these is the Earthworks Urban Farm. It is run by a soup kitchen; volunteers participate in the urban agriculture program. Seven large and well-maintained gardens are located around the soup kitchen. This infrastructural facility significantly shapes life in the neighborhood. Further to the north is the Downtown Boxing Gym. Joe Louis, one of the best and most famous boxers in history, grew up in Detroit, but this gym is not about fame and glory. Established in 2007, the institution has proven highly successful in providing children and young people a safe and interesting place to spend their free time. A particularly “hands-on” symbol of Detroit rising like a phoenix from its ashes is the Architectural Salvage Warehouse (ASWD), which was the final destination of the mobile workshop. Thou- sands of buildings have been torn down in and around Detroit. The ASWD prepares salvaged building materials for reuse – and has developed innovative systematic processes for recovering as much material as possible during demolition.

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