Rivers are [hi]stories. They connect us through space and time, carry our elusive memories of the past, contingent presents, and many imagined futures. The Detroit River, too, is soaked with [hi]stories. Homelands of three Anishinaabe nations, the region was colonized through the river waters. It has witnessed wars and wonders, prosperity and disaster, decline and recovery. Declared a public highway in 1819, it fueled the growth of steel and auto industries and enabled migrations escaping slavery, poverty, and conflict. Designated a binational Heritage River, it is still undergoing socio-ecological recovery. This studio examines the Detroit River as an agent of urban transformation. What narratives are well represented, and which ones are missing? Whose voices are not being heard? We will collectively research its layered [hi]stories and document current challenges—pollution, climate change, racial inequity, and erasure—while asking how we, as designers, can imagine and steward more just and inclusive futures along the river.

Through the engagement with the Detroit River Story Lab, the study will participate in conversations depicting a multiplicity of approaches and perspectives to the study of the Detroit River as a living cultural landscape through forms of storytelling that are inclusive, equitable, and complex—The Lab builds on local partnership store search, co-produces and disseminates historically nuanced,contextuallyaware, andculturally rooted stories harnessing the symbolic power of the Detroit River in drawing out the lives and struggles of its adjacent communities.