Michigan State University

The MSU Center for Community and Economic Development is committed to creating, applying, and disseminating valued knowledge through responsive engagement, strategic partnerships, and collaborative learning. We are dedicated to empowering communities to create sustainable prosperity and an equitable economy. The Center supports the study of policies, practices, and consequences of structural abandonment and material salvage and reuse. Coined the Science of Domicology, Domicology is the study of the economic, social, and environmental characteristics relating to the life cycle of the built environment. Domicologists: -Recognize that manmade structures have a life cycle -Examine the life cycle continuum of the built environment and plan, design, construct, and deconstruct in order to maximize the reuse of materials and minimize the negative impacts of a structure's end of useful life -Identify innovative tools, models, policies, practices, and programs that can sustainably address a structural life cycle -Conduct research on the technical, economic, and policy challenges present in a structure's life cycle and seek to reduce the negative social, economic, and environmental impacts associated with structural abandonment We faciliate networking and capacity building in organizations and businesses that share this mission and seek to create jobs and economic opportunity for distressed communities.