Looking at the Van Buren township as study grounds for halting and reversing suburbanization trends, we developed a strategy around the dominant geographic feature of the area: Belleville Lake. By lowering the lake level, the publicly owned lakebed, now exposed, can become a catalyst for new forms of housing and open space. This open space not only expands the existing Metro Park system along the Huron River but is paired with "degrowth" strategies on the fringes of the township. Suburban areas over time can be unbuilt and remediated while the lake edge increases in density and develops into a space for new forms of land ownership, cooperatives, and recreation.