CityCraft has been deeply engaged with local communities since 2021. The initiative grew out of 2.5 years of graduate-level, data-driven research that identified Michigan — and the broader Great Lakes region — as a critical opportunity for regenerative community development.

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Recognizing the Great Lakes bioregion as a 400-mile economic ecosystem and one of the largest regional economies in the world, CityCraft selected Lansing as its beta center for regenerative learning and applied research serving the entire Great Lakes Basin.