Wild Urban Land is an ongoing, collaborative effort to connect individuals and groups with Detroit’s present and future natural areas through hands on experiences, storytelling, and citizen science.  

This work began as an effort to understand landscapes in Detroit created through acts of quarantine. We wondered how landscapes created in isolation might become different from their surroundings, and what benefits they might offer to Detroit and to the region.

This work shares part of the story of a series of exemplary and typical local landscapes. Together they expose the dormant potential of Detroit’s existing ecosystem. These are hybrid, entrepreneurial landscapes: intentionally created and self-made.

Stewardship of our natural world is an affirmative act, with benefits that extend beyond a specific location or piece of land. In 2021, Wild Urban Land seeks to strengthen a sense of connection and possibility to the unique and valuable landscapes of Detroit.

***As a reminder, we are all on native land. In Detroit, this means the land of Anishinabe; Haudenosauneega; Miami; Odawa; Peoria and Potawatomi.