Driving Through Detroit
Diana Lind | Thu, Aug 21st, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Detroit | Tags: detroit, artists, urban renewal, palmer woods, detroit free press, demolition
Many people know Detroit by its one defining factor: the city has been in decline for decades now. It was refreshing then to read the Detroit Free Press’s five-part series of exploring the state of decay and renewal in the city. Part one explores the age-old areas of decay. Here’s a particularly poignant quote:
“Fifty years ago, when I moved in, it was beautiful,” said Walter Martin, 83, who lives on Buchanan near 24th. “Little by little, everything left. I stand here and I almost cry.”
The second section explores the well-to-do neighborhood of Palmer Woods that “never really looked like the rest of Detroit.” It has seen blight encroach on its territory,
Palmer Woods is not the only elite neighborhood in Detroit that finds itself fighting an escalating battle with the kinds of cancers that rarely existed there before and, over time, have destroyed large swaths of the city.
Adjacent to Palmer Woods and only slightly less majestic are Sherwood Forest and the University District. Those neighborhoods, similarly, are battling blight and the pathologies that accompany it: crime, stripping, squatting and fires.
The third part discusses the role of artists in the rebirth of the city. Sounds totally amazing to me:
“When we talk to artists from out-of-town, we mostly talk about opportunities that don’t exist elsewhere,” he said. “You can come to the city, take over land, do whatever you want.”
In the fourth part there is a discussion of nature in Detroit. When lots go vacant, they can turn into gardens — or garbage dumps.
In many parts of the city, you can see aggressive trees, bushes and weeds that have surged through soil, wood and cracks in the concrete to reclaim empty lots, garages, alleys and even some streets,
Last but not least, there is some commentary on the spirit of Detroiters.
This piece was completed in 2007 — does anyone in Detroit have any follow-up information one year later?
Diana Lind is editor in chief of Next American City magazine.
Roland Lawrence in Detroit/Los Angeles
Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 3:18pm
Where despair lives, opportunity is ripe for picking. I hope to aggressively work to help make Detroit once again a city of hope, rpomise and prosperity.
detroitologist in 81657
Tue, Sep 02, 2008 at 6:52pm
I lived in University District when I was a student at the University of Detroit Mercy and in Palmer Park which is not far down McNichols (6 Mile) and borders Palmer Woods. Along with the “Fashion District” along Livernois Avenue I think that these areas all tie into each other well and that together they were able to weather the storm. They worked in concert with each other even if it was indirectly. Each was aware that the other was there. I saw that the pattern worked, that different components were needed in the mix for things to really hold their value and to work. I saw a city filled with isolated concepts because that’s how architects think… we worked on our individual projects and not ouside the boundaries of the site or even outside the accepted theories of urban design. From Detroit I feel that the biggest tragedy of architecture and planning is the condition of isolation.
If the universtiy had closed its doors the rest would likely have declined and it would look like the rest of Detroit. If the residents had moved out of those large and beautiful homes then the stores along Livernois would not have made it. There was even some successful urban renewal at the corners of Livernois and 7 Mile. A large grocery chain in Detroit opened a new store on the Northwest corner and it is tucked behind the storefronts along Livernois. It gave the neighborhood what it needed, the convenience of a modern grocery store. So rather than shopping up on 8 Mile the neighborhood has it’s own place like that and they don’t need to feel left out of progress. The whole things works quite well together.
The neighborhood west of Livernois is still much better off than the rest of the city. The homes are for the most part still there and they are not all blown out. The neighborhoods east of the university are like that and are pretty nice. The south of Palmer Park is destroyed and so it the south end of the university.
Detroit is coming around but the destructive nature of the city got to me after 10 years and I moved far away from that mess. I was happy to read that Kwame took down the old Motown building. My last project was located to the north of that building and the rooftop became an office to study and think about what should go there. The building had a lot of junk left in it, discarded along with the rest of the city. The project showed a lot of effort and years of living with that mess that was my home. After I finished the project a had drawings missing from my studio and then the model I had spent so much effort on was missing. Someone in the office had taken it for sure but they would not admit to have ever seen it. The destructive nature runs in their veins I guess. A lot of tagedy in that city. What is greater that the urbanism or the buildings? The spirit of the people, which is what makes the city so dark. That is the part that the architects cannot change.