The challenge
Detroit has been hit particularly hard by COVID-19 with one of the country's highest mortality rates, compounding existing public health issues and complicating efforts to provide access to essential services. Throughout the pandemic, the City of Detroit has used its recreation centers to provide access to critical resources such as food, employment resources, cooling centers, and other programming for vulnerable
community members, many of whom are accessing these centers for the first time
during the pandemic.
community members, many of whom are accessing these centers for the first time
during the pandemic.
Among large U.S. cities, Detroit is considered one of the least dense with housing, jobs, and food spread out throughout the city. This makes getting around more difficult, especially for the quarter of its population who solely rely on transit, biking, walking, and rolling to access essential services and places. The city’s recreation centers are spread around the city but often just far enough from bus stops that they can be challenging to find. To bridge the gaps between bus stops and the nearby recreation centers, the City of Detroit sought to partner with an artist to pilot eye-catching wayfinding to guide residents to resources.
The project
With help from Forecast Public Art, Smart Growth America selected and hired Detroit-based designer Ndubisi Okoye to create welcoming wayfinding to guide Detroiters to nearby recreation centers and resources.
Considering the short timeline of the project and hopes of replicating the wayfinding in the future, Okoye and the City of Detroit decided to focus their efforts on wayfinding for one recreation center. In partnership with the Detroit’s Planning Department, Department of Public Works, and Lasky Recreation Center staff, Okoye designed a set of wayfinding signs that would be placed along the half-mile route separating the bus stop and Lasky that could help connect people in the neighborhood with the resources at Lasky. Okoye worked with the city staff to collect community feedback to inform the final sign design.
To make the signs stand out from other city signage, Okoye used bold colors and design techniques as well as spray-painted arrow directions on the ground beneath the sign.
To increase accessibility of the signs and reinforce that all are welcome, the signs feature messages written in Bengali, Arabic, and English and simple symbols illustrating the resources available at Lasky.
To make the signs stand out from other city signage, Okoye used bold colors and design techniques as well as spray-painted arrow directions on the ground beneath the sign.
To increase accessibility of the signs and reinforce that all are welcome, the signs feature messages written in Bengali, Arabic, and English and simple symbols illustrating the resources available at Lasky.
The results
Thanks to successful partnership between Okoye and the city, there is a set of 17 beautifully designed signs in the ground outside of Lasky Recreation Center that are directing residents to crucial resources during COVID-19. Indirectly, the city developed a new process for designing future wayfinding for connecting residents to other crucial city resources. Full write up from Smart Growth America here.
Project Team
Ndubisi Okoye, Artist
Samuel Krassenstein, Transportation and Infrastructure Advisor at City of Detroit
Shelby Howard, Urban Planner at Detroit Planning and Development Department
Erika Linenfelser, Mobility Planner at Detroit Department of Public Works
Katherine Braggs, Lasky Recreation Center Supervisor
Breann White, Photographer
