# DETROIT, USA



## flar (Mar 7, 2006)

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## Chadoh25 (Dec 28, 2007)

Great photos!


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## Nightsky (Sep 16, 2002)

Great architecture, even if the city looks completely dead.


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## Bristol Mike (Aug 5, 2007)

Detroit has some really good looking buildings, all around the city of different styles. It's just such a shame the city has no life whatsoever.


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## Geborgenheit (Sep 9, 2005)

Great examples of American architecture. Big city. Looks very interesting.


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## kostya (Apr 13, 2004)

Very nice photos. But...where is everybody? :runaway:


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## Munichpictures1970 (Aug 2, 2007)

Very interesting pictures! But the city looks like ghost town.


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## BramH (Dec 30, 2010)

Great pictures, love the look of this city a lot.


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## Geborgenheit (Sep 9, 2005)

Munichpictures1970 said:


> But the city looks like ghost town.


They have 4G. That's why.


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## ikops (Jun 12, 2008)

I think it gives it an eerie impression.


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## Pietrin (Mar 30, 2010)

I don't liked the ghost town appearance, but fo sure the buildings are very gorgeous. Nice city, huh?


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## gomounir (Oct 20, 2009)

the city always looks so empty ????


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## Denoordrotterdammer (Oct 4, 2003)

Amazing! Detroit is one of the most interesting cities in the world. I hope they don't demolish the historic buildings to lower the offer of square meters.


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## Elvenking (Jul 22, 2008)

These pics are really nice compared to most views of Detroit I've seen. Maybe it's because you show only pics from downtown. This city is usually thought to be total ruin, with highest unemployment and crime rates in States. Is this situation changing?


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## shtoopid (Jun 15, 2010)

Elvenking said:


> These pics are really nice compared to most views of Detroit I've seen. Maybe it's because you show only pics from downtown. This city is usually thought to be total ruin, with highest unemployment and crime rates in States. Is this situation changing?


the most dangerous city always changes, but detroit has been in the top 5 for years. the reason why it always looks terrible is because the population has gone down considerably. look closely at these pictures and you'll notice some of these buildings are abandoned


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## Tourniquet (Nov 28, 2006)

I love this decaying appearence. Nice pics!


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

Detroit has been getting a lot of positive coverage in 2010 -- e.g., the NY Times, which ran a series of at least six or seven articles covering the efforts at urban renewal by local artists, activists, local business people -- many of them young people in their 20s and 30s. Impressive.

Similar things have happened in other US cities. But the possibilities in Detroit are on a much grander scale.

Some of the comments on this thread (based mostly on appearances) seem absolutely CLUELESS when it comes to all this recent coverage.

In any case, how Detroit fares in the coming years is certainly of great interest to me. I think any person who claims to have any interest in cities and urban renewal would feel the same way -- with or without the benefit of pretty pictures.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Someday Detroit is going to get it's mojo back. If these buildings are still standing when that happens it will be an amazing city.


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## jbkayaker12 (Nov 8, 2004)

Nice but the buildings need a lot of maintenance. Too bad the buildings are being neglected.


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## kraperchunks (Sep 26, 2010)

Really eerie, hardly any signs of life.


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## boogo (Oct 1, 2004)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oarflEs9Oo4


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice photos from Detroit, well done


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## Spookvlieger (Jul 10, 2009)

Love this city!
Downtown of detroit is so great. The architecture of cities like New-York, Boston, pitssburgh and Chicago. If only some of those buildings could be transformed to condo's to bring life back in this city...

Does anyone know what they are gonna do about empty suburbs around CBD?


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

joshsam said:


> Does anyone know what they are gonna do about empty suburbs around CBD?


I don't know about empty suburbs, but what has been discussed a lot in the press are the current mayor's plans to "downsize" Detroit into a smaller number of viable neighborhoods. Would this mean a complete withdrawal of all city services in some of the most blighted and "abandoned" areas?

It is a bold plan, to be sure. But the devil is in the details. But if properly implemented, then I think it will be good overall.

When I last checked the Detroit Works Project, the following neighborhoods have been identified as "core":

University Commons
Grandmont Rosedale
Central Woodward/New Center
Midtown
Corktown/Woodbridge
Downtown/Eastern Market
Riverfront
Mexicantown
Jefferson East

I would assume that this list is still evolving...

http://detroitworksproject.com/


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## Spookvlieger (Jul 10, 2009)

I wouldn't be bad if the city centralized more I guess...
Nice to see some new projects!


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

As I said previously, it is urban renewal on an impressive scale. The possibilities are interesting to consider. 

One can only hope that the major portions succeed. At least this is my opinion...


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## Spookvlieger (Jul 10, 2009)

^^ I just hope they manage to attract lots of new inhabitands for detroit.
I always asked myself: 
There are still millions of people living in the suburbs around Detroit right? But where do they go for there metropolitan services? Does detroit still provides them?
Or did they got relocated to satelite cities like Pontiac or Ann Arbor, or suburban centers like, Mt. Meclemens Royal oak or Birmingham?


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## nomarandlee (Sep 24, 2005)

What kind of services are you thinking about? Entertainment? Education?Health? Employment? 

The answer is though that the suburbs are largely self sufficient and effectively detached from Detroit in most respects.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

nomarandlee said:


> The answer is though that the suburbs are largely self sufficient and effectively detached from Detroit in most respects.


Yes.

I have heard from friends that the contrast in services can be quite striking. Some have commented on the state of snow removal in the city roads this winter, and how it constrasts sharply once you cross boundaries.


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## Spookvlieger (Jul 10, 2009)

^^ Yes I forgot about the decentralisation of US cties with their vast suburbs and services moving towards the suburbs.

But what about: Universities, head offices of fire dep. and police dep., Culture: theathers,..., 

Mayby I just can't imagine how self sufficient these suburbs are....


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

The Detroit suburbs comprise cities and townships in their own right... This is true with most US suburbs.


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## shtoopid (Jun 15, 2010)

tpe said:


> The Detroit suburbs comprise cities and townships in their own right... This is true with most US suburbs.


People on this site (who aren't from the us) seem to think people living in the suburbs drive 45 minutes to get everywhere they need to go. But most suburbs have their own offices, bars, restaurants, buses ect. In fact, most suburbs have their own downtowns. Living in the silicone valley, a trip to san francisco, san jose, or oakland is not an everyday thing for most people.


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## BearCave (Feb 2, 2007)

Cool! It's just like the movie "I am Legend"!


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## BearCave (Feb 2, 2007)

shtoopid said:


> But most suburbs have their own offices, bars, restaurants, buses ect. In fact, most suburbs have their *own downtowns*. Living in the silicone valley, a trip to san francisco, san jose, or oakland is not an everyday thing for most people.



Do you mean Shopping malls?


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

BearCave said:


> Do you mean Shopping malls?


Not exactly.

Remember that many suburbs have old downtowns -- especially the ones that are older: in some cases, older than the cities they are now associated with. 

In the case of Chicago, for instance, several of the suburbs are certainly older than Chicago.


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## AMS guy (Jun 27, 2003)

Breathtaking photos :drool: Detroit architecture looks amazing!! I hope downtown will come back to life and the city will shine again like it did before. It's a very intriguing place.


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## VelesHomais (Sep 1, 2004)

WOW

Extraordinarily beautiful city and awesome pictures. THANK YOU. Looks like a museum of Art Deco, almost rivaling New York. Again, WOW.

Hope you don't mind, I've reposted some of your pics in a Ukrainian subsection, you're credited and a link has been provided to this thread.


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## shtoopid (Jun 15, 2010)

BearCave said:


> Do you mean Shopping malls?


hno: you can't be serious. you're acting like suburbs didn't exist before the 80s. not gonna post the pictures because that will derail the thread, but there are some suburban downtowns in the links

http://www.downtownsanmateo.com/Assets/images/downtownsanmateophoto.jpg

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/4797/downtowns.png


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## Assemblage23 (Jan 6, 2008)

Really beautiful. I hope Detroit gets back to its splendour some day.


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## guinessbeer55 (Jul 25, 2006)

It's sad to see the remnants of what was once one of America's greatest cities.


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## flar (Mar 7, 2006)

Thanks for the comments. Detroit is a fascinating city. Once one of America's largest and richest cities, it's been battered by a combination of suburbanization, racial tension, corruption/incompetence and deindustrialization. 

An extensive freeways system was built in the 1950s and 60s. Not only did this destroy and isolate neighbourhoods, it facilitated a massive exodus to the suburbs. Racial tensions flared, culminating in the 1967 riots. "White flight" was further hastened in the 70s by the busing issue and election of Coleman Young as mayor. All the while, North America was moving toward a post industrial economy; thousands of jobs were lost. The City of Detroit became predominantly black and the suburbs predominantly white. While the Detroit metropolitan area continued to grow and remains one of the largest in the United States, the City of Detroit has found itself in a downward spiral, suffering from a dwindling taxbase, corruption and incompetence. With jobs, schools and city services declining, Detroit struggled with poverty, drugs, crime and other social problems. Over the years, nearly a million residents have left the city proper.


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## lezgotolondon (Aug 31, 2010)

Booooring. Compared to a near city like Toronto.

I don't like GM buinding at all.

Americans and (we too with other europeans citizens) should wake up because corrupt politicians, big companies are ruining our nations.

Americans seems to be very patriotic, so work to improve usa from the inside terrorism is not the real problem that is killing detroit.

it's very sad to see this decline. Usa & Europe should be an example for the new developing countries, now they are falling and the other countries risk to make the same mistakes.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

If you read some of the previous posts, you will see that many (if not most) of the interesting things happening in Detroit these days have NOTHING to do with big business, corrupt politicians, terrorism, and booming skyscraper/building construction.

This is the problem with many of the picture threads in this part of the forum -- people get fixated on appearances, rather than on other interesting things that make up a city.

And you seem to have your own ideas of what American are and how they should be fixing their cities.

Frankly, some of the good things happening in Detroit would be hard to replicate in other cities anywhere. It's because people have taken the approach to solving problems in a very personal/individual/creative level. A lot of it is done without help from the big corporations or the government.

You should look beneath the surface. Much of what makes a city a city is not found in skylines and impressive buildings.





lezgotolondon said:


> Booooring. Compared to a near city like Toronto.
> 
> I don't like GM buinding at all.
> 
> ...


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## lezgotolondon (Aug 31, 2010)

tpe said:


> If you read some of the previous posts, you will see that many (if not most) of the interesting things happening in Detroit these days have NOTHING to do with big business, corrupt politicians, terrorism, and booming skyscraper/building construction.
> 
> This is the problem with many of the picture threads in this part of the forum -- people get fixated on appearances, rather than on other interesting things that make up a city.
> 
> ...


I know but the photos were boring for me, the other sentences have another topic.

Anyway I was judging the photos and what I've seen in it. I know that I can't judge the city from these photos, this is what you were showing to the rest of the world. It isn't the best of your city?

I was writing impressions not judgements, it's different.
Following your reasoning, even good judgements coul be wrong.

I would like to visit detroit if I can find something worth it. No prejudices, just show me your best.


I didn't wrote that I know how you can fix your problem, but I know that there are in the usa(and in europe) problems you(we) should fix asap.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

Well, it's OK. But I personally think that good pictures of a city don't always show its best side. In particular, urban pictures are best when they show a certain grittiness and true-to-life directness. It's something one can't get from the usual touristy pictures you are invariably offered by local Chambers of Commerce, visitors centers, etc.

It's the less glamorized pictures that one gets to appreciate the spirit of a place. 

I don't know how old you are. But I have lived long enough to have seen Manhattan in the late 1970s and 1980s.

In those days, SoHo was a dump, and memories of the East Village were dominated by visions of rats.

Have you seen pictures of SoHo these days? It is pristine. Some grit remains, but it is metaphorically like gold dust, instead of the dust of the streets.

Would you believe me if I told you that SoHo was much more interesting then than it is now?

You wouldn't believe it from the pictures!



lezgotolondon said:


> I know but the photos were boring for me, the other sentences have another topic.
> 
> Anyway I was judging the photos and what I've seen in it. I know that I can't judge the city from these photos, this is what you were showing to the rest of the world. It isn't the best of your city?
> 
> ...


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## MarkusErikssen (Oct 4, 2005)

Very impressive city. Seen many movies about this city. Hope it gets better. So many beautiful buildings and areas, they need to be filled with people.


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## lezgotolondon (Aug 31, 2010)

tpe said:


> Well, it's OK. But I personally think that good pictures of a city don't always show its best side. In particular, urban pictures are best when they show a certain grittiness and true-to-life directness. It's something one can't get from the usual touristy pictures you are invariably offered by local Chambers of Commerce, visitors centers, etc.
> 
> It's the less glamorized pictures that one gets to appreciate the spirit of a place.
> 
> ...


I know.

So try to catch this Detroit mood. I'm interested.


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## Get Smart (Oct 6, 2008)

decaying, uninviting, this is no Tokyo


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## charliewong90 (Nov 24, 2009)

lots of reactions but Detroit is Detroit and i consider it one of america's great cities.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

Get Smart said:


> decaying, uninviting, this is no Tokyo


And why should it be?


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## Lordpenguinton (Aug 19, 2009)

If you want to see a good picture in Detroit go see Brueghel's: "Wedding Dance" painting, (or Rivera's mural), at the Institute of Art. Other than that appreciate Detroit for what it is and was. It was a product of a boomtime industrialization much like many Asian and South American cities are experiencing now. And yeah it's not Tokyo, if you want Tokyo then go to Tokyo, and it it's not Toronto, and I love Toronto, but they don't have one of Brueghel's best paintings in Toronto.


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## sky-eye (Jan 2, 2003)

Impressive!


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## diablo234 (Aug 18, 2008)

joshsam said:


> ^^ Yes I forgot about the decentralisation of US cties with their vast suburbs and services moving towards the suburbs.
> 
> But what about: Universities, head offices of fire dep. and police dep., Culture: theathers,...,
> 
> Mayby I just can't imagine how self sufficient these suburbs are....


Detroit still serves as an employment/entertainment/cultural center with several entertainment districts, sports arenas/stadiums, and Wayne State University. Also the downtown area has one of the fastest growing residential populations in the US. 

This talk of abandoned neighborhoods is mostly seen in the surrounding neighborhoods. However some of them such as Mexicantown, Corktown, and Midtown have started to see revitalization as well in spite of the political corruption/poor schools/high crime rate so it's not all doom and gloom.


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## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

Interesting discussion on this thread.....anyway thanks for the nice pics.


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## HS (Jun 7, 2008)

Detroit fascinates me for about three years and I wish I'll go there in few years. This is really sad how Detroit turned from one of the most magnificent American cities to the picture of collapse. I wish Detroit all the best and, as far as those pictures show the situation, Motor City's downtown don't look THAT bad at all. I think the city council and the mayor of Detroit should support revitalisation of the buildings in the city centre. This may take effect in moving back to the city. I guess many people would like to live in comfortable apartments in the city centre in the times of high gas prices.


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

I knew I'd like this thread. Wonderful old buildings. Can we buy them and move them here?


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## Sweet Zombie Jesus (Sep 11, 2008)

Incredible city, shame about the decay, those buildings really deserve inhabitation.


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## uralural (Sep 30, 2009)

I really like cities of the north of the USA. Great architecture!


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## hellospank25 (Feb 5, 2008)

Beautiful photos but didn't you feel unsafe walking around taking photos?


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## Dr.Seltsam (May 28, 2008)

The city looks a little bit run-down but the architecture is really amazing! Thank you for uploading these photos!


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