Detroit - once 4th largest city in America now bust

by Simon 17 Replies latest social current

• 

  Simon

  The city has lost more than half of its population over the last 60 years. In 1950, the city was the fourth-largest city in the country with a population of nearly 2 million. Today its population is estimated at just under 700,000.

  Once the industrial powerhouse of America it's now declared bancruptcy. The largest municipal filing in US history.

  Amazing to contrast with Hiroshima which 65 years ago was absolutely decimated by an Atom Bomb:

  http://12160.info/profiles/blogs/hiroshima-and-detroit-65-years

  Will Chicago face the same fate?
• 

  Simon

  Amazing picture of what was obviously, once an impressive city:

  http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2010/06/rust-belt-road-trip-75-urban-decay-pics/
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370199/Detroit-Haunting-photos-crumbling-remains-highlight-decline-Motor-City.html

  All those impressive buildings represented investment and skills ... what happened? How did things come to this?

  Images of urban decay like this are very poignant. It is amazing to imagine the hopes and dreams they represent and the wealth and investment that places could at one time attract in bygone times.

  There are others here:

  http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=487881
• 

  Satanus

  'Amazing to contrast with Hiroshima which 65 years ago'

  Perhaps, a nuke to do a quick cleanup. So many people, so many buildings, no one wants.

  S
• 

  Simon

  Maybe ... a little like when you try and grow a city too big too fast in SimCity - everyone just leaves and things go to pot.

  The more people leave, the harder it is to pay for all the infrastructure that is then way bigger than the population needs and the cycle repeats and repeats ...

  It's easier in a game to press the 'reset' button to start again.
• 

  Satanus

  'what happened? How did things come to this?'

  To be fair, its not just capitalists at fault. The unionists thought they had the manufacturing corps by the throat. Lots of strikes, often by people who were already very well paid. The corps fought back w 'free trade'. That let the corps out of the choke hold and the rest is history.

  S
• 

  joe134cd

  Basically they went to china
• 

  Splash

  Amazing photo's.

  Looks like the film set for I Am Legend.

  Splash
• 

  Simon

  Yes, or "12 Monkeys" where the view flashed forward / back to abandoned vs in-use grand buildings.

  The collapse of US motor manufacturing obviously played a part but aggresive unions, heavy-handed policing and race-riots certainly didn't help. More affluent, middle-class people who could leave left and took money and jobs (small businesses) with them (so called "white flight"). This then left a striking imbalance is the ethnicity of the city compared to the surrounding area and the US as a whole.

  Michigan has a higher proportion of white people than the US as a whole but the ratios for Detroit are completely reversed. Whether this is a contributing factor or a symptom is difficult to assess - I suspect Detroit's issues are not 'current' but rooted in what decisions were being made 30+ years ago. The people living there now just get to live with the aftermath and it must be tough.

  
• 

  Simon

  Wow, the real-estate market paints a picture all on it's own - Amazing houses for very little:

  Kind of reminds me somewhat of Manchester's post-war industrial decline and later resurgence (although we had a huge IRA bomb that actually helped)
• 

  darthfader

  Ever take a "tour" of Detroit using google maps... It's really odd to look at the city from above and see what was once a block with only 2 or 3 standing houses -- the rest are gone.

  This site has some very powerful pictures: http://www.jamesgriffioen.net/index.php?/prairies/lost-neighborhoods/

  This isn't about capitalism or unionism, it's about increased productivity and automation:
  http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19801011&id=B34fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C10EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6844,4869398

  My only hope is that the deconstruction continues to clear out older neglected properties and the land will be used for more urban farming etc:
  http://www.freep.com/article/20130520/NEWS01/305200021/urban-gardening-detroit