there's already mini urban farms around. i would just be concerned with actually cleaning the soil first for a few years by growing wheat or something. i'm sure there's a lot of chemicals from nearby factories that have settled in the ground
this thread is making me sentimental. bringing me back to my high school days of driving from the suburbs to los angeles most weekends to dance all night to dirty detroit techno (yes, there is a niche well carved for that here). "put your hands up for detroit. it's a lovely city."
some friends and i went to DEMF the first few years before and just after the change over from carl craig to derrick may. i know i saw the city cast in a much different light than a native would have. i definitely romanticized it as a retro-futurist fantasy not fully come to fruition. drooled over the gutted buildings and ghost town sparcity, but i still caught on to the breathtaking amount of heart the place has. not only the people i met there, but even in listening to detroit techno. it's hard to verbalize where it comes from or what exactly it is.. but other posters in this thread probably hit it when they said that when a star actually shines there, it's like the fuckin northern lights. i'd love to go back and see what it's like today and see what feeling i get now. it's been about 7 years.
well, the music fest costs money to get into now....
in all respect, detroit people (those that grew up there) don't get impressed easily and just keep pushing along. every music scene in detroit has a tight bond. people struggle to get by and still manage to push along. artists still hangout like they are regular people (except eminem of course). if you can make it in detroit, you can practically make a name for yourself anywhere......
i've actually thought about what it'd be like to go to school in michigan for planning or architecture (which admittedly is a whole different area of practice than working there). i don't want to get an entirely academic perspective of the region, but i suppose some place like umich would have a firmer grasp on the reality of detroit rather than studying it from afar.
only way to learn about the D, is to live there.... tooo many people try to come in and 'save' detroit with some project then they just move away after the fact... then you see on websites how some person from nyc did some project in detroit and manage to get some shine...that always makes me laugh.... then all you hear is detroit this and detroit that.... there's more to detroit than just 'visiting' and 'looking up data'
yea, i agree. that's true of most "blighted" areas. everyone thinks they know what's best for an area, but that often translates to what's in their own best interest. i may get laughed at here, but i'm asking in all honesty because i have no idea... what's the public involvement process like as far as planning in detroit? is there any? are there even veiled attempts at involving the public in community building/revitalization/whatever else just so someone can say they're making an effort... or nothing at all? i don't know the level of community activism. detroit gets the reputation of having apathetic residents who have just accepted the so-called shittyness of their city. i'm sure that's true of some, but what's your take on it?
that's a very complex question, stefjam. detroit is a big city with many different levels of community and public involvement. one thing detroit has is strong neighborhood block clubs and cdcs. these groups provide a means for community members to fight the crime and blight in neighborhoods that the city, because of its shear size, is unable to. one of the biggest problem facing detroit is that it is far too big for its population. tax dollars cannot provide adequate services for a city this size. cdcs and non-profits often fill the void where the city cannot. i wouldn't call the city apathetic at all. it's just that the city has big problems.
detroit was a factory city. big houses where families of 3 generations lived at times. once the older generations of these homes retired and passed on, the property was passed to the younger, which in turn might not had the proper education. figure in factories closing, people moving and schools closing, this would then lead to neighborhoods that couldnt survive. older generations passed on and homes went to shit.......
families move to other cities for better school systems/etc.
you can't rely on a government to help you out either..... too many lazy people that milk the system and dont help in rebuilding a community....
of course, these photos don't rep the whole city - going back again today for the final trip before heading back to brooklyn tomorrow.
missed the chin tiki, of course (unfortunately). also, lafayette's hot windows are long since gone (another bummer), but going to take fluxbound's parting advice today and see if i can't make my way into one of the downtown derelict behemoths.
kisses from quaint ann arbor....thanks again to all who ponied up some sweet info for the trip.
The University of Detroit Mercy (U of D / UDM) is located on the corner of 6-mile and Livernois, just minutes away from Highland Park / Ford City. It has a much better grasp on the "reality of Detroit" than U Mich does. Ann Arbor is an hour away from Detroit and was a destination of white flight. Outsider attitude.
U of D SOA has an in house design firm, the Detroit Collaborative Design Centre, which works exclusively with non-profits in the city. You could learn a ton from them.
@johnszot:
I see you made your way to Eastern Market. The inhabited warehouse was once the site of an undergraduate studio project.
@%%%%%: yeah - made a few friends over at the market site; i wish them well and good luck - hope their current arrangements hold out for awhile; any links with info on the undergrad project you mentioned?
@donna sink: yogrt - a funky moniker for sure; was excited about the weirder work like disko and the head beard cult crew (?) from the Packard Plant visit; turns out that even ruins have commercial value: my trip to the Packard was cut short by private security keeping gawkers out of the Transformers 3 shoot taking place there
@binary - no, we saw quite a bit else - getting shitfaced at Roast on washington right now (yeah, yeah - I know....) But most of the other stuff in detroit wasn't as photogenic
Keep in mind I'm looking for the pathological element - detroit's very special in that respect; wear that badge w some pride - it's a beautiful thing (imho)
hot Detroit action
yup - that's detroit... some things haven't changed, I guess...
they got his cell - I'll bet the mayor's office is going to be getting some "i got pains" calls the next few weeks.
A great place to visit is at the end of Farnsworth St. near Cheyne and East Warren. That's where I was shot at once.
God bless Detroit
could this actually happen?
urban villages
ebenezer howard's garden city in Detroit...
there's already mini urban farms around. i would just be concerned with actually cleaning the soil first for a few years by growing wheat or something. i'm sure there's a lot of chemicals from nearby factories that have settled in the ground
this thread is making me sentimental. bringing me back to my high school days of driving from the suburbs to los angeles most weekends to dance all night to dirty detroit techno (yes, there is a niche well carved for that here). "put your hands up for detroit. it's a lovely city."
some friends and i went to DEMF the first few years before and just after the change over from carl craig to derrick may. i know i saw the city cast in a much different light than a native would have. i definitely romanticized it as a retro-futurist fantasy not fully come to fruition. drooled over the gutted buildings and ghost town sparcity, but i still caught on to the breathtaking amount of heart the place has. not only the people i met there, but even in listening to detroit techno. it's hard to verbalize where it comes from or what exactly it is.. but other posters in this thread probably hit it when they said that when a star actually shines there, it's like the fuckin northern lights. i'd love to go back and see what it's like today and see what feeling i get now. it's been about 7 years.
well, the music fest costs money to get into now....
in all respect, detroit people (those that grew up there) don't get impressed easily and just keep pushing along. every music scene in detroit has a tight bond. people struggle to get by and still manage to push along. artists still hangout like they are regular people (except eminem of course). if you can make it in detroit, you can practically make a name for yourself anywhere......
i've actually thought about what it'd be like to go to school in michigan for planning or architecture (which admittedly is a whole different area of practice than working there). i don't want to get an entirely academic perspective of the region, but i suppose some place like umich would have a firmer grasp on the reality of detroit rather than studying it from afar.
an english countryside? i could envision a number of futures for detroit, but english countryside is not one of them.
only way to learn about the D, is to live there.... tooo many people try to come in and 'save' detroit with some project then they just move away after the fact... then you see on websites how some person from nyc did some project in detroit and manage to get some shine...that always makes me laugh.... then all you hear is detroit this and detroit that.... there's more to detroit than just 'visiting' and 'looking up data'
yea, i agree. that's true of most "blighted" areas. everyone thinks they know what's best for an area, but that often translates to what's in their own best interest. i may get laughed at here, but i'm asking in all honesty because i have no idea... what's the public involvement process like as far as planning in detroit? is there any? are there even veiled attempts at involving the public in community building/revitalization/whatever else just so someone can say they're making an effort... or nothing at all? i don't know the level of community activism. detroit gets the reputation of having apathetic residents who have just accepted the so-called shittyness of their city. i'm sure that's true of some, but what's your take on it?
that's a very complex question, stefjam. detroit is a big city with many different levels of community and public involvement. one thing detroit has is strong neighborhood block clubs and cdcs. these groups provide a means for community members to fight the crime and blight in neighborhoods that the city, because of its shear size, is unable to. one of the biggest problem facing detroit is that it is far too big for its population. tax dollars cannot provide adequate services for a city this size. cdcs and non-profits often fill the void where the city cannot. i wouldn't call the city apathetic at all. it's just that the city has big problems.
detroit was a factory city. big houses where families of 3 generations lived at times. once the older generations of these homes retired and passed on, the property was passed to the younger, which in turn might not had the proper education. figure in factories closing, people moving and schools closing, this would then lead to neighborhoods that couldnt survive. older generations passed on and homes went to shit.......
families move to other cities for better school systems/etc.
you can't rely on a government to help you out either..... too many lazy people that milk the system and dont help in rebuilding a community....
that's what I thought too... Detroit is completely flat... essentially filled-in marshland/swamp.
break into abandoned skyscrapers.
most memorable detroit moment in 3 years at umich.
detroiters and others:
more than a year later, finally made it to dee-troit. got my fill of blow-out nastiness, and then some:
http://johnszot.com/albums/detroit2010
of course, these photos don't rep the whole city - going back again today for the final trip before heading back to brooklyn tomorrow.
missed the chin tiki, of course (unfortunately). also, lafayette's hot windows are long since gone (another bummer), but going to take fluxbound's parting advice today and see if i can't make my way into one of the downtown derelict behemoths.
kisses from quaint ann arbor....thanks again to all who ponied up some sweet info for the trip.
john, glad you are having a good trip! I've enjoyed re-reading a lot of this thread since it popped back up to the top of the page.
Some beautiful images on your page! But: yogurt? As a tag name, really?
And is Ann Arbor as pretentious as I remember it being? Have fun and be safe!
@stefjam:
The University of Detroit Mercy (U of D / UDM) is located on the corner of 6-mile and Livernois, just minutes away from Highland Park / Ford City. It has a much better grasp on the "reality of Detroit" than U Mich does. Ann Arbor is an hour away from Detroit and was a destination of white flight. Outsider attitude.
U of D SOA has an in house design firm, the Detroit Collaborative Design Centre, which works exclusively with non-profits in the city. You could learn a ton from them.
@johnszot:
I see you made your way to Eastern Market. The inhabited warehouse was once the site of an undergraduate studio project.
@%%%%%: yeah - made a few friends over at the market site; i wish them well and good luck - hope their current arrangements hold out for awhile; any links with info on the undergrad project you mentioned?
@donna sink: yogrt - a funky moniker for sure; was excited about the weirder work like disko and the head beard cult crew (?) from the Packard Plant visit; turns out that even ruins have commercial value: my trip to the Packard was cut short by private security keeping gawkers out of the Transformers 3 shoot taking place there
i really hope you seen more than those places.... those are the 'tourist' attractions of the city...
did you make it to southwest detroit/mexican town by any chance...
@binary - no, we saw quite a bit else - getting shitfaced at Roast on washington right now (yeah, yeah - I know....) But most of the other stuff in detroit wasn't as photogenic
Keep in mind I'm looking for the pathological element - detroit's very special in that respect; wear that badge w some pride - it's a beautiful thing (imho)
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