Similar concepts worked in Germany.

Cities like Hamburg re-consolidate some of there resources after a shift from an industrial to service based economy began to effect their city.

i've been saying this for years......relocation of folks to build more dense communities and build from there.... duhhh....

Downsizing on an urban scale?

I the question somebody brought up in the article- about what industries are going to happen there is critical... What is their long term sustainable vision for this? On the one hand, there would be some short term stimulus from the scale of the construction etc., and clearly the existing empty houses and derelict buildings they are demolishing are essentially useless as is, normally I would think reuse and rehabilitation is the best sustainable solution, but I think in this case maybe the enormity of the economic depression and problems only weighs down on neighborhoods, so something drastic needs to happen there...

I think here the key is design. It will be about vision and effective design for those communities, how the redesign responds to economic, social, and cultural dynamics to create long term sustainable developments...

move folks to build neighborhoods... have schools to support this and grow from there..... parks and casinoes and stadiums won't do shit for rebuilding communities...

empty blocks will be leveled and be rebuilt as needed.... or use for farming......

white flight was when the 'white folks' left for the suburbs...when the burbs were built.....and crime in the D started to rise/etc.....

Anyone seen the shots by the Detroit's "urban prairies?" There's a couple photographers who have been documenting them pretty comprehensively, including a guy who walks among them every day with his dog and camera.




Pretty scary stuff. Personally, I think the City of Detroit is going to have to get aggressive in courting businesses and large, blue-collar employers, because jobs are the only thing that can help Detroit.

____________________
Brian
Rental Agreement

The decline of Detroit - A photographic essay and empirical data matched to charts*:

http://www.white-history.com/hwrdet4a.htm

*Obi does not necessarily condone or not condone the rest of the content of this website, I just came across this information as I was searching for photographs and think it is a fascinating aspect of the deline of detroit, and esp. as the AIA has adopted "DIversity" as one of its main organizational priorities.

I think its fairly easy to strenuously not condone that website Obiwan.

I went to see polish town based on some of the guides that are floating around the web. pretty eerie, almost peaceful, like a cemetery.
I noticed a bit of a ruin tourism going on though.

polish town? you mean hamtramack? it's not actually detroit, but that's one of the most dense parts of the city.

meant to say poletown

poletown is south of hamtramck...think "Polish Yacht Club"...

obiwankenobi - Even by given a disclaimer, you are still providing a forum for neo-nazi propaganda.

neo-nazi propoganda or anti-neo-nazi propoganda it is still INFORMATION and last I checked we are all grown ups on the forum.

At least, that is what I thought until I saw a recent pornogrpahic post on that disgusting creature Mapplethorpe.