The abandoned city of Detroit

[Loki]

http://zfein.com/photography/detroit/index.html

The study of abandonment must convene upon Detroit at one point or another. No other city in the United States has undergone such a dramatic level of population decline, abandonment, and urban decay over the past few decades.

As many of the posts under the research section of this site convey, industry in America has toppled and left behind an amazing amount of abandoned and decaying architecture. Detroit, the nation's most industrious city, reflects this in a unique way. The failing industry was met with, social, racial, and political tensions. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the city, and today the population is less than half of what it was in 1950 (For a detailed analysis of Detroit's fall, visit this page). Such a dramatic "un-densification" affected every realm of the city. Factories closed doors, jobs disappeared (to this day, Detroit has over 17% unemployment) and soon after, residents left. The middle and upper classes vanished in search of suburbs and other cities, leaving behind a massive lower class with no means to maintain a city that quickly became twice the built size it needed to be.

Today, not only is nearly half of Detroit's 138 square mile area vacant, beautiful architecture is left with no hope of use. There is simply not enough demand to sustain the amount and character of architecture. The city is a case study for methods of dealing with shrinking cities. As famous American boomtowns once existed, their counterparts exist today; cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh have all lost around 50% of their population over the past 50 years. The commonality that exists is the industrial based economy, the variable being the social adaptation to industrial decline. Detroit has fared worst in terms of this variable, and the photos here illustrate that.

Abandoned skyscrapers:

Even the central business district in Downtown Detroit is not immune to abandonment. It is unclear just how much vacant office space there is in the central business district, but there are a handful of skyscrapers that are currently completely empty and abandoned: The Book Building, David Broderick Tower, and The Lafayette Building to name a few. Those buildings are pictured in this gallery.



Two abandoned towers in downtown Detroit.





Book Tower, the 9th tallest building in Detroit, is completely abandoned.




The David Broderick Tower in downtown Detroit is completely abandoned.

[Loki]

United Community Hospital

Only a few shots of this more recent, modern hospital are in this gallery. This building is captivating because of the interesting contemporary style, as well as the fact that it barely had an existence at all; the hospital operated for only a few short years before abandoning this building abruptly. With much of the medical equipment simply turned off and left behind, this building is heavily guarded (the reason this gallery is so short).

[Acquisitor]

The city now belongs to them. Revival of the city is mission impossible. It's "gone".




And ofc there are interesting stats:

[Sikeliot]

I wouldn't live in Detroit even if I was paid to. The crime rate is shockingly high.

[EagleAtHeart]

Here's more
























This is shocking because:



Multiculturalism at work!

[Annabel Lee]

Nice find, there was also a recent article on BI. We seem to get many of these lately. I couldn't help but notice the total absence of White people. Truth be told I do like the occasional broken window and a normal degree of street culture in urban centers, posery 'perfect' little cities like Zurich irritate me for instance, as I think they're inauthentic and anywhere close to reality. But yeah Detroit's decadence .. What a disasta.

http://www.businessinsider.com/photo...l-2012-12?op=1

[Caismeachd]

The suburbs outside of Detroit are just as bad as well. I did work all around in Virginia and there were areas there just as bad. All over the US there are cities and areas that are like 3rd world post apocalyptic scenes.

[Jackson]

Sad, interesting. Interesting as a case study.

[amerinese]

The suburbs outside of Detroit are just as bad as well. I did work all around in Virginia and there were areas there just as bad. All over the US there are cities and areas that are like 3rd world post apocalyptic scenes.

Yes. Detroit is only the largest and most obvious example. You can find similar processes at work throughout the US. Saint Louis, for example, experienced the same sort of population decline, and has a lot of the same issues, just not as extreme.

[EagleAtHeart]

Still not as bad as this:



^This is Europe in 70 years