Every city faces similar challenges, from equitable development to housing and economic opportunity. Detroit’s experience stands out because many of these challenges have been more visible and more extreme, pushing communities to develop creative, community-driven solutions. Today, cities across the country are increasingly looking to Detroit for insight and inspiration.

We had the opportunity to host award-winning musician John Legend, who visited Detroit with the Brookings Institution as part of a Learning Journey focused on community land ownership and neighborhood-driven development.

We had the chance to host a particularly special experience with Academy Award–winning singer and actress Jennifer Hudson and a group of students participating in Ally Bank’s Moguls in the Making program, which supports young leaders from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country.

We hosted 50 staff members from the University of Michigan’s Innovation Partnerships team for their annual retreat.

At City Institute, our focus is on offering in-depth full-day and multi-day custom experiences called Learning Journeys. These experiences focus on Detroit as a classroom, including site visits, panel discussions, and case studies to share best practices and provide a deeper understanding of Detroit.

City Institute provides private virtual and in-person tours, learning journeys, city experience consulting and speaking engagements that are thoughtfully researched, focusing on providing historical context and sharing community stories often missing from traditional textbooks or overlooked by most media outlets. 

Here you can see some other cities and how Detroit compares both in square mileage but also in density (people per square mile).

Detroit more than any other city has been defined in the minds of much of the world by the headlines, the memes, and the videos they’ve seen from afar.

Almost 150,000 people have taken tours since 2006 to learn about Detroit’s assets, small businesses, historic neighborhoods, city planning and development policies, and innovative solutions to the challenges the city faces.

Through the many ups and downs that Detroit and its communities have endured, the one thing that has stayed constant is the ability of Detroiters to find creative solutions to the challenges they face, discover joy in the simple things, and work together to have a positive impact on where they live.