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Robin Buckson, Detroit News

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Detroit commemorates 375 years since its founding. While we ponder what it means to be American in the twenty-first century, the Critical Engagements team invites our community to think about a question that’s both more concrete and closer to home: what lessons does do Michigan cities have to offer? 

The story of America can, in many ways, be told through its cities. Michigan’s cities, in particular, both witnessed and wrote key chapters in the nation’s history: invasion, expansion and (re)settlement, immigration, innovation, internal migration, decline, conflict, and renewal. Detroit, in particular, has served as a crucible for urban ingenuity and inequality, and now offers a model for innovation in the 21st century. From its role as an arsenal of democracy in World War II to its recent leadership in urban agriculture, Detroit reveals much about the country’s past, present, and future.

Through an interdisciplinary lens, Critical Engagements will explore what Detroit and Michigan’s other major cities can teach us. Together, we’ll examine themes such as immigration, industry, design, urban unrest, gentrification, housing, gardening, and more—asking where Detroit, and the nation, are headed in the years to come. We have our eyes on other Michigan cities, too, from Flint to Grand Rapids, from Traverse City to Benton Harbor, drawing on lessons from urban history and culture around the nation and the world.

The Team: 2026–2027 Steering Committee

  • Christi Brookes (Department of History, World Languages, and Cultures)

  • Greg Smith (Department of History, World Languages, and Cultures)

  • Marcy Taylor (College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences)

  • [Additional Members Pending]

Resources

Books and Articles

  • Mona Hanna-Attisha, What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City (New York: One World, 2018)

  • Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House, 1961)

  • Tiya Miles, The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits (New York: The New Press, 2017)

  • Thomas J. Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996)

Films and Other Media

Featured Courses

Community Partners

Events