SUN-A02: Building Trust and Trails Throughout Detroit

Sunday, October 12, 2025

8:30 AM – 9:45 AM CT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Brian P. Charlton, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP (he/him/his)

Senior Principal
SmithGroup
Christiansted, Virgin Islands, U.S.
David I. Tobar, ASLA

Construction Administrator
City of Detroit
Ferndale, Michigan
Sheri Burton (she/her/hers)

Treasurer
Midwest Civic Council of Block Clubs
Detroit, Michigan

Greenways are catalytic infrastructure for urban reinvestment and community connectivity. This session shares the strategies and lessons learned in planning, funding, and constructing a multi-use trail through four cities in Metro Detroit. Hear the stories from the project partners leading the years-long effort to complete the 27.5-mile Joe Louis Greenway.

Learning Outcomes:

Understand how greenways and open space can regenerate neighborhoods in the absence of new development and provide equitable access to healthy lifestyles through nonmotorized transportation, recreation, and biodiverse open spaces.
Identify near-term strategies to align the city’s resources and investments to transition into long-term impacts and drivers for positive change.
Learn how connected greenways provide safe pedestrian mobility as well as a powerful incentive for economic and community redevelopment across diverse communities.
Identify strategies for effective and authentic community engagement and development in historically disinvested and underserved communities.