The Oakland North End Mile Project (O.N.E. Mile) is an urban framework developed through the strategic use of temporary cultural infrastructure. Conceived as a collaborative experiment in Detroit’s North End, the project advanced cultural and economic regeneration through minimal physical intervention and high programmatic flexibility.
Lightweight installations functioned as scaffolding for hundreds of events, exhibitions, workshops, and performances, reframing vacant land and underused spaces as active civic ground. Over time, these temporary actions coalesced into a guiding framework for the neighborhood—one that modeled development rooted in community participation and cultural production.
Over four years, O.N.E. Mile catalyzed more than $2 million in neighborhood investment, generated short-term employment for artists and residents, and elevated the North End’s cultural profile at both national and international scales.
2014-2018
North End, Detroit
Support:
Artplace America, Knight Foundation, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
Principals:
Anya Sirota, Jean Louis Farges
Collaboration:
Oakland Avenue Artists Coalition
Landscape:
Christophe Ponceau
Participants:
Allen Gillers, Alvina Renfrow, Amp Fiddler, Annelise Heeringa, Andrea Daniel, Andrew
Kremers, Billy Hebron, Carl ‘Butch’ Small, Carleton Golz, Caroline Petersen, Christophe
Ponceau, Dames Brown, Danielle Weitzman, Dave Boggon, David Philpot, Dee Castelow,
DJ G-Smooth, DJ Los, Duminie Deporres, Ejii "jimbo" Kim, Eric Harmon, Eric Howard,
Gabe Gonzalez, Ian Donaldson, Ingrid Lafleur, Jaffer Kolb, James Folden, Jamii Tata,
Jasmine Harris, Jason Lindy, Jennifer Kee, Jerry Hebron, Joe Johnson, Kalia Keith, Karen
Harris, James Lesko, Kathryn Carethers, Kirk Donaldson, Kristen Collins, Dr. Makeeba
Ellington, Marsha Music, Matthew Story, Mick Kennedy, Mike Clark “Agent X”, Missy
Ablin, Nneka Jackson, Omar Bruce, Peter Halquist, Piper Carter, Rachel Mulder, Rich
Richardson, Rosie O'Brien, Ryan Mason, Ryan Moritz, Sam Okolita, San Street Catering,
Sarah Pavelko, Shae King, Stephen Gliatto, Steve Patton, Taylor Montgomery, TFO Horns,
Tom Bray, Tony “T-Money” Green, Walter “Hazmat” Howard, Young-Tack Oh, and many
others.
Publications:
O.N.E. Mile, V1
O.N.E. Mile, V2