Fast Company looks at the attempt to attach design jumper cables to Flint, Michigan and shock the city into the 21st century.
Like many Rust Belt cities, Flint, Michigan, has seen its share of troubles: a drop in jobs (and population figures), along with a spike in crime. But Flint has something all its own: Genesee Towers, the city’s tallest high-rise and eyesore, which has stood vacant for years as a symbol of the industrial town’s bygone prosperity. To make matters worse, the city was forced to assume ownership of the property and pass along the expense to cash-strapped taxpayers. Rather than seeking the building’s demolition, Flint’s AIA chapter held a competition for ways to remake the 1968 structure as the cornerstone of future development.
