What is the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word, Detroit? Many people will think of classic American auto manufacturing giants like Ford and General Motors, first established in Detroit. Once positive notions of a great American city have been replaced by negative depictions of decline.
In the present day, positive news does not emanate from the city of Detroit. In fact, we hear of high crime reports, with the statement by the FBI naming Detroit the most dangerous city in America.
How could a city that was once esteemed as a powerhouse of American capitalism and industrial power fall to its metaphorical knees? Once immaculate buildings highly frequented by Detroiters are presently vacant, easily accessible to vandalism and often torn down.
The former Michigan Theater is a poignant symbol of rapid change. The theater was built in with ornate features in the French Renaissance style. Audiences once watched performances by Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Bette Davis, and the Marx Brothers in the 4,seat theater filled to capacity by Detroiters until The ornate style of the building still remains, although cars, not people, now fill its interior.
In , the historic, and beautiful Michigan Theater was turned into a parking garage. This dramatic transformation symbolizes the rapid decline Detroit has faced since the middle of the 20 th century. And, why is Detroit abandoned? Scenes in the documentary, Detroit: Comeback City , and major Hollywood film, Gran Torino are prominent examples of films that represent the city of Detroit through evoking ruin porn. These films use imagery that depicts historic wealth in comparison to present abandonment and poverty.
However, the introduction of new investment and people in Detroit will invite gentrification and displace those that already live downtown, labeling minorities as a problem to be solved. Deindustrialization occurred in Detroit due to the attraction of low wage regions for American auto companies outside of the city and the country. New auto plant facilities and the abundance of low-wage workers meant better profits for companies who had employed Detroit auto workers for years.
White auto workers fled the city and moved to newly built suburbs where a portion of the auto industry had relocated. In addition, long-standing racial conflict occurred between black and white Detroiters.
These forces incurred widescale abandonment and crime, both of which are pervasive representations in both documentary and fictional films about Detroit. When its ruins are fetishized as art, these injustices are ignored, and, at worst, mimicked. In addition, the majority of minorities who live in these abandoned neighborhoods are often poor.
Their needs are not communicated because they are often cast aside by the city government. To make the situation worse, the city of Detroit has implemented plans to attract business and investors. Their goal is to allure young professionals to drive investment to new areas across Detroit. This plan will surely fuel gentrification and displacement of local residents as property values rise. As a result, increased tension between local inhabitants of underdeveloped neighborhoods and city officials will inevitably skyrocket.
Ford's plans also include the Detroit Public Schools Book Depository, another notorious ruin, which neighbors the station and will receive its own overhaul.
The revitalization trend has generally been welcome news for city officials, local businesses and residents in neighborhoods near the blighted buildings. Yet it also heralds an end to an era, one in which the novelty of urban ruins has drawn faraway visitors to Detroit as well as artists who find beauty in the wreckage.
Local photographer Jesse Welter, 47, has been giving unauthorized group tours of abandoned Detroit buildings since But the revitalization boom has meant fewer open and abandoned buildings for his groups to explore.
Roughly half of Welter's tour-goers are international visitors, he said, including some who come just to see urban ruins. Moore, the New York photographer, spent four months in Detroit between and , capturing images for his book. A pair of French photographers came out with their own book, "The Ruins of Detroit," at about the same time. In a phone interview Tuesday, Moore said he has been back to Detroit about 10 times since the book's release and noticed how many once-empty buildings are now renovated and occupied.
The economic transformation, particularly downtown, has been miraculous, he said. Some of the buildings and structures photographed in Moore's "Detroit Disassembled" that no longer exist are:.
Other once-dilapidated buildings in the book that have been redeveloped include Broderick Tower, Book Cadillac Hotel and the Scott mansion in Midtown, which will soon reopen as apartments. Only a handful of the photographed buildings remain empty with no plans for redevelopment.
Speramus Meliora, Resurget Cineribus. Since the s, Detroit has suffered a protean crisis and is today the archetype of a city in decline. But one must also consider all the negative effects induced by this decline: the drastic lowering of the tax base, municipal powers without financial resources, budget cuts. This has resulted in the reduction of urban services: garbage collection is notably deficient, public lighting is partial, etc. It is therefore a generalized urban crisis, aggravated by the recent crises: the subprime crisis; the financial and economic crisis.
Since the end of the s, it has attracted artistic creativity. This is why we propose to explore the counter-intuitive idea that ruin can be perceived as an asset.
Marchand agrees. If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter. Azeville by Jane and Louise Wilson, is part of a series exploring the crumbling sea defences built by the Nazis on the northern French coast Tate. Badly damaged by flooding in , The Destruction of Pompei and Herculaneum by John Martin was itself a ruin until it was restored in Tate.
Art Photography. From Pompeii to Detroit: Why ruins fascinate.
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