Last Sunday at approximately 4 PM, myself and 10 other dedicated individuals met in order to determine the beginnings of what will become our entry into this year’s Evolo competition.  For those of you that don’t know the Evolo Competition is an intense urban design/cultural discussion project.  The first order of business was to discuss where exactly we would be working from, we needed a site.  There were several very interesting alternative presented that included New Orleans, Newark, and New York.  Ultimately, however we decided upon Detroit for several reasons, the most prominent being that it had an obvious problem that needs fixing.  Our position as it stands will focus around the Ambassador Bridge and the high unemployment rate.

The meetinge minutes were recorded:

7/19/09, 4:30pm

eVolo Design Competition:
- backlash against the typical skyscraper
- aesthetic and intellectual stimulation
- how skyscraper design can improve local life
- redefine skyscraper
    – what you say is more important than what you build.

Detroit
- building to jump-start local economy long-term, auto industry, and abandoned neighborhoods
- Liam to provide overview research, to be continued by each team member for a week, then research further in specialized research teams
- specialized research teams:

• crime - Group 1    
• transportation - Group 2
• economy - Group 3
• history - Group 4
• geography – Group 5

As per the minutes we have all been split into groups of specific research. There were also several articles distributed that should bring everyone up to speed on the general area.  While the beginning may seem tedious and unexciting, eventually this research will aid in the construction of a conceptual system for making decisions in the design process.