  Al_t_publican Member Username: Al_t_publican Post Number: 81 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 66.146.173.34 |
I recently toured the ruins of Angkor Wat near Siem Reap, Cambodia. Maybe it was the heat of spending the several months in SE Asia that got to me but at one moment while climbing up and down through Angkor Wat I found myself thinking about my birthplace Detroit. Could Detroit as a urban ruin ever be promoted as a tourist attraction as Angkor Wat is? I wondered. Call it silly, call it cynical of me to think so, but people paying to see a place that imploded like Angkor Wat made me think of Detroit. About five years ago as I was riding my mountain bike over the Bagley St. bridge that crosses the rail lines that come out of the Detroit River Tunnel I came upon a French camera crew. When I asked what they were up to they said they were doing a story on the Detroit techno music scene and getting some shots of the city. Cool, I thought. Bring in some tourist money. Angkor Wat post Khmer Rouge experience seems to be doing quite well. Siem Reap has a steady flow of tourists and expat business types who have taken a chance at making it there as does Phnom Penh to a larger degree. It all left me thinking that if Cambodia can bounce back why not Detroit? | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3626 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 67.172.95.197 |
No | ||
Quinn Member Username: Quinn Post Number: 708 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 64.139.64.80 |
No #2 | ||
Antonyj11 Member Username: Antonyj11 Post Number: 60 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 167.219.0.140 |
I wouldn't say that Angkor Wat has "bounced back". | ||
Upinottawa Member Username: Upinottawa Post Number: 340 Registered: 09-2005 Posted From: 198.103.184.76 |
Who would pay $5 for a (legal) guided tour of the Michigan Central Depot? I would. With the Canadian dollar so strong, I might even pay $10.  | ||
Naturalsister Member Username: Naturalsister Post Number: 608 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 69.212.52.216 |
No #s 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,1 5,16,17,18,19... INFINITY!! later - naturalsister | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 4075 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 141.217.174.229 |
HAH Detroit could be the next Rome. We looking at some ruins when we go out in the ghetto right now. | ||
Atl_runner Member Username: Atl_runner Post Number: 1907 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.98.116.13 |
As things go, it's destined to become just that. Who knows what the next 100 years will bring. One thing is for sure though. Detroit's struggles are monumental and I see nothing on the horizon that will stem the losses any time soon. Still love the place, just have no, ZERO confidence in the leadership there. By there I mean the entire State of Michigan. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3633 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 67.172.95.197 |
Maybe, this isn't the forum for you, then. I could make a very similar argument why I believe that sprawled and transient Atlanta will have a shorter shelf-life than Detroit has had. If anything, we should start worrying about Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta...all of which have very little sence of places within their boundaries, where their development is much more temporary and less sustainable, and all cities that have boomed when location means very little for these city's economies. (Message edited by lmichigan on May 03, 2006) | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 749 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.14.30.175 |
for years, i've been reading in visitor guides that part of the thrill of visiting detroit is its post-apocalyptic feel. it's true, it exists. the ruins and abandon are fascinating and awe-inspiring. i really need to take myself back in time to remember just how incredible the destruction and neglect appeared when i was first exposed to it. i remember having the sense of playing russian roulette while driving down so many streets. now, it all seems "normal." | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3645 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 67.172.95.197 |
I don't know what visitors guides you've been reading, because the local convention bureau tries to play this down as much as possible, to a fault. Maybe it's because my parents had to live in these "ruins" and I was born into them, but I see nothing intriguing about decline and neglect. I get really annoyed at people that can only view the city as some social case study with "subjects" to observe. It's a city that still has 900,000 living, breathing people, a majority of which lead relatively normal lives in what has become of our urban cities. This dehumanization of Detroit needs to stop. | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 751 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.14.30.175 |
...with half of the residents saying if they could afford to leave detroit, they would. the visitor guides to which i'm referring are those published by third parties. the local convention bureau should proclaim and exalt the development we've seen downtown, and in many neighborhoods, and i'm sure they do. however, i've yet to visit a city in these united states with more battered, charred, and barren estates. sure, every city has areas in decline, but the proportion in detroit exceeds anything i've seen. these areas are certainly not the "only view" of the city, but where they exist, they are astounding. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3651 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 67.172.95.197 |
Different tastes, I guess. I find nothing "cool" about urban decay, and I especially don't get a hard on over the stuff like many outsiders seem to get. It's a morbid fascination that I'm not going to join you in. When you have to live in it, there is nothing cool about it. Have fun with your excitement of death and destruction. Detroit is not an Angkor Wat, and has decades or centuries to go if it ever wanted to be anything close to one. An Angkor Wat would be like abandoning, in full, a New York City or London and leaving it to rot for centuries; not a Detroit. (Message edited by lmichigan on May 05, 2006) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2057 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.3.235 |
If anything, Detroit is more like Rome. After the fall of the empire in the 5th century AD, the city went from having a million inhabitants down to about 25,000. It fluctuated for centuries, but even by the time of the Renaissance Popes, it still had only about 25,000 people among all the ruins. It was the Renaissance Popes who used all the Roman ruins as building materials for the Vatican and other building projects. Much of the fabric of St. Peter's is made of the marble remains of the Roman Forum and Flavian Amphitheatre (Roman Colluseum). | ||
Alexei289 Member Username: Alexei289 Post Number: 1122 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 68.61.183.223 |
... Rome had more going for it as a capitol of the largest empire the world has ever seen... with the most technological expertise... which we are currently surpassed by china in many ways. Detroit never has even been able to compete with our neighbor chicago, who is still only the 3rd largest city. the city of rome itself was a technological achievement... Detroit pioneered some technologies, but we built our systems out of materials that are completely utilitarian... and continue to rot and decompose... rome was made out of marble and granite. Rome has alot ahead of Detroit.. If rome died, the european world would move and shake.... if Detroit died, china would just get richer and florida more populated. | ||
Deputy_mayor_2026 Member Username: Deputy_mayor_2026 Post Number: 38 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 152.163.100.8 |
Detroit is much more like Pompeii than Rome, well just kidding. Although I have some intrigue in urban decay as it is such the antithesis of suburbia where I was raised, I would much rather have outsiders admire Detroit's greatness. I have faith in the eventual return of the "Paris of the Midwest." As Kwame noted in his state of the city address, in 1805 the entire town burned to the ground... | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1129 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 63.41.8.104 |
Can I change my username to Alaric? I'm in the mood for some sacking. | ||
Deputy_mayor_2026 Member Username: Deputy_mayor_2026 Post Number: 39 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 152.163.100.8 |
Give me your best shot, if you are referring to me. | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 753 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.14.30.175 |
from http://www.ste-anne.org/dempse y.html
some big differences to keep in mind about the detroit of today, and of 1805: there were six hundred residents then. it's easier to rebuild the scorched remains serving six hundred people, than for one-point-one million people. i use that figure in reference to rehabilitating that which was used by a populace now removed from detroit. in 1805, two-thirds of the people opted to stay when they had nothing. since 1950, more than half the people have opted to leave, when they had everything. of course, the above points comprise an entirely materialistic assessment, but they describe optimism and pessimism about the future of the city at two distinct points in time. we see that more than infrastructure needs to be restored; civility needs to be restored. the fire of 1805 was, presumably, an accident. the fires in recent times? not so much. |
