Detroit, MI: The Past and Present of the American City

Julianna Tschirhart

Evolving Significance of Detroit •  Detroit as American Dream •  Detroit as American Nightmare •  Detroit as Laboratory for the 21st Century American City

•  Content analysis of national news publications –  New York Times, TIME, Newsweek

Detroit Today •  Second-most segregated metropolitan area in the nation

–  Detroit = 77% black –  Suburbs = 84% white

•  Population –  1950: 1.8 million people 2010: 713 thousand people –  A 25% decrease in 10 years, lowest population since 1910

•  Vacancy –  1/3 of 140 square miles

•  Poverty –  33% live below poverty line

•  Unemployment –  Nearly 30%

•  Education –  $219 million deficit Detroit Public Schools –  1/4 of schools to close by June 2011 –  47% adults functionally illiterate

•  Crime –  1,200 violent crimes per 100,000 people (highest in 2009)

Vacancy in Detroit

2nd most segregated City: Detroit = 77% Black, Suburbs = 84% White

Detroit as the American Dream “Detroit, and the automobile it manufactures, have changed the face of the world. Though by

global standards Detroit is not a large town, it is probably as well known throughout the world as any town in existence. It is the symbol of the almost incredible productive

capacity of America.” -Sam Boal in the New York Times, 1951

•  “Arsenal of Democracy” •  Automobile Industry

–  Wealth –  Mobility

•  Modernist/Fordist progress narrative of society

Detroit as the American Nightmare

•  Crime •  Nostalgia and ruins •  Racialized inner-city proletariat, affluent

suburbs •  Failure of Fordist economic model and

modernist progress narrative

“How can you begin to describe a disaster the size of the nation’s sixth largest city?” -John Lowell on Detroit in Newsweek Magazine, 1976

From top left: Arresting black youth in Detroit; Woodward Dream Cruise; Michigan Central Station

“Fixing Detroit: A Laboratory for Saving America’s Cities?”

“The ultimate fate of Detroit will reveal much about the character of America in the 21st century. If what was once the most prosperous manufacturing city in the nation has been brought to its knees, what does that say about our recent past? And if it can’t find a way

to get up, what does that say about our future?” -Daniel Orkent in TIME Magazine, 2009

•  Emergent Narrative –  Reclamation of Detroit for America –  Democratization of discourse of civil society through media-

based organizing •  Detroit offers new model for

conceptualizing the American city in the 21st century

Aspects of Revitalization •  Shrinkage or “right-sizing” •  Urban gardening •  Art •  Entrepreneurialism •  Media-based organizing •  Second United States Social Forum

Slow’s Bar BQ Earthworks Urban Farm Heidelberg Project

Detroit Becomes “Cool” •  Distinction and gentrification •  Complications of “blank canvas” narrative

–  Negates existence of existing residents –  Little integration –  Potential to displace existing residents

Starbucks in Midtown Detroit “Detroit is the New Brooklyn”

Detroit Tells Us… •  City is set of stories being told •  Identity rooted in place •  Community involvement as way forward •  “Green” sustainability, normalizing shrinkage

Selected References •  Title: http://www.wallpapersweb.com/dlwall.php?image_id=8242 •  Slide 2

–  Stills from Chrysler Advertisement, “Imported from Detroit”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc •  Slide 3

–  Duffus, R.L. “City that Forges Thunderbolts.” New York Times 10 Jan. 1943. –  Chafets, Ze’ev. “The Battle Lines are Clear and Dangerous: The White Suburbs vs. Black City.” New York Times 29 Jul.

1990. –  Assignment Detroit Logo. http://www.time.com/time/detroit

•  Slide 4: “Embracing the Shrink Paradigm.” Volume Project 17 Jun. 2009. http://volumeproject.org/blog/2009/06/17/embracing-the-shrink-paradigm/

•  Slide 5: New York Times Interactive Census Map 2005-09. http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer •  Slide 6

–  Cars: Daniell, F. Raymond. “Detroit: Our Laboratory of Social Change.” New York Times 14 Nov. 1937. –  Smokestacks: Duffus, R.L. “City that Forges Thunderbolts.” New York Times 10 Jan. 1943. –  Postcard. http://myaimzistrue.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html

•  Slide 7 –  Woodward Dream Cruise: Roy, Rex. The Urbane Life. http://www.theurbanelife.com/?p=2103 –  Youth Offenders: Associated Press. “Detroit Police Blitz Criminals.” May 2010.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/05/detroit_police_blitz_criminals.html –  Michigan Central Station: Marchand, Yves and Romain Meffre. Ruins of Detroit.

http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html •  Slide 8: Detroit Evolution Lab. http://handmadedetroit.com/2008/11/12/meet-the-detroit-evolution-lab/ •  Slide 9

–  Slow’s Bar BQ: http://www.letssavemichigan.com/blog/entry/a-model-citizen-for-detroit/ –  Earthworks Urban Farm: http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/gallery/photogallery/photo.cfm?id=20&catid=5 –  Heidelberg Project: Photo by self.

•  Slide 10 –  Starbucks: http://www.detroitmidtown.com/05/develop_commre.php?msub=5 –  Detroit is the New Brooklyn: http://detroitlives.org/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/brooklyn%20far.JPG

•  Slide 11 -Telling Our Detroit Story: http://ourdetroitstory.com/ -Possible Future for Detroit: http://youngstownrenaissance.com/2009/06/youngstown-as-urban-villages/