Jordan Weber: Detroit Remediation Forest 

Production | Acquisition Grant

Located in a Detroit neighborhood plagued by environmental injustice, Jordan Weber’s Detroit Remediation Forest is a square-acre pocket forest that functions as an air detoxification zone and an open-air Environmental Justice classroom. With a crown-shaped Mirrored-aluminum sculptural arch to mark its entrance, the project includes transplants of 200 conifer trees to create a dense canopy that will maximize the absorption of toxic particulate matter (PM) from a nearby automotive factory. The 2019 expansion of the Stellantis auto plant in the majority-Black Detroit neighborhood of East Canfield was the result of a deal for the same manufacturer to reduce emissions in a predominantly white neighborhood. The plant has since had deleterious effects on local public health; the children of East Canfield experience asthma at five times the national rate. An archway that takes its form from West African architecture will mark the entrance into a clearing in the woods. Inside, a forum with stepped seating is encircled by a bridge below the forest canopy, providing a clean-air oasis in a heavily polluted neighborhood. The students from the nearby Barrack Obama Academy will use the space as an Environmental Justice classroom as they explore ways to create greener futures.