Case Study - Detroit Flashcards

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1
Q

Where is Detroit located?

A

In Michigan, North East US on the Canadian border

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2
Q

What is heavy industry?

A

Industry that involves one or more characteristics of large and heavy equipment or facilities, or complex and numerous processes

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3
Q

What was the ‘Steel Belt’?

A

A belt of the North East US where established waterways, roads and railroads connected coalfields and rich iron ores to produce much of America’s steel products

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4
Q

Why did Detroit’s location make it key to the Steel Belt?

A

The Appalachian coalfields were to the south and Michigan’s upper peninsula has rich iron ore, so resources were easily available

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5
Q

What were the ‘3 giants’ in Detroit?

A

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler

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6
Q

What did Detroit become famous for within the steel belt?

A

Cars

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7
Q

How did Henry Ford change industrial processes?

A

He invented the production line in 1913

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8
Q

What happened after the Great Depression?

A

People moved North to find work

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9
Q

How many people did Ford employ when it first opened?

A

50,000

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10
Q

Why were Ford jobs so attractive?

A

They paid well and allowed workers to afford the cars they were building

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11
Q

How did Detroit’s population change between 1820 and 1920?

A

It grew form 1000 to 1,000,000 and the % White stayed roughly constant

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12
Q

How did Detroit’s population change between 1930 and 2010?

A

It shrank from 1,800,000 to 700,000, and from predominantly White (92%) to predominantly Black (83%)

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13
Q

When did the population peak?

A

Around 1950

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14
Q

When were the Great Migrations?

A

Between 1910 and 1980

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15
Q

Why did many Black residents move to Detroit from the South?

A

To escape racial segregation laws and find jobs

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16
Q

How much of Detroit is suburbs?

A

90%

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17
Q

Why is so much of Detroit made up of suburbs?

A
  • Construction of interstate highways
  • High taxes and house prices in city
  • Racial tensions in city
  • White flight
  • Cars become more accessible for travel
  • Business moved out of Detroit
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18
Q

What were some of the forces of change in Detroit?

A

Globalisation, TNCs, International Institutions

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19
Q

How did oil prices cause decline in the city?

A

As the oil crisis hit (1956), prices quadrupled and people were put off buying and running cars, so the automotive industry suffered

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20
Q

How did TNCs cause decline in Detroit?

A

They provided competition as other manufacturers produced similar products at cheaper prices, forcing companies in Detroit to look elsewhere for cheaper labour costs

21
Q

How did the number of automotive firms in Detroit change in the years of the oil crisis?

A

Fell from 3400 to 2300

22
Q

When did Detroit declare bankruptcy?

A

2013

23
Q

How do wages in Detroit today compare to the US as a whole?

A

They are $2.12 an hour lower for skilled workers

24
Q

How does overall educational attainment compare to other states today?

A

Much lower

25
Q

What tax laws were passed in 2012?

A

To lower income tax rates to lowest in Midwest, tried to attract people

26
Q

What is segregation?

A

The action or state of setting someone or something apart from others.

27
Q

What is racial integration?

A

Includes integration including goals like levelling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions rather than bringing a racial minority into the majority culture.

28
Q

What is an enclave?

A

A portion of territory surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethically distinct.

29
Q

What is racial disintegration?

A

The tendency for society to decline or disintegrate over time. For example a growing segregation of races.

30
Q

What is 8 mile road?

A

One of a series of roads (also 7 mile + 9 mile + 12 mile etc) named for its distance from the centre of Detroit.
-It is considered the dividing line between the haves and have-nots, though this distinction has diminished significantly in the past few years.

31
Q

Why did Detroit become a segregated city?

A
  • In 1940s Detroit’s population was growing significantly.
  • Many of new inhabitants were poor white southerners and black people, moving into city to find jobs in booming automobile industry.
  • Many of existing white residents saw black people as threats to their communities, jobs and homes.
  • So black people were excluded from all public housing except for the Brewster Housing projects - here black people were forced to live in horrible conditions.
32
Q

What is the average age of Detroit?

A

34.7 years

33
Q

What is the average house price in Detroit?

A

$79,000

34
Q

What was the population in 1950 and how many of those were employed in manufacturing?

A

1.8 million and 200,000 - this is 1/10

35
Q

Between 1910-1970 how many black people migrated?

A

6 million

36
Q

What percentage of people today live in the suburbs?

A

90%

37
Q

Why was there growth of the suburbs?

A
  • Highway gave easy access to downtown core from suburbs, many who worked in the city core live in the suburbs
  • The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 subsidised an infrastructural project which authorised $25 billion for construction of 41,000 miles of highway over 10 years, started 1956
38
Q

What endogenous factors lead to economic boom of Detroit?

A
  • Ford’s assembly line - e.g. technology
  • Location - transport hub/access to coal/near to Canada to trade
  • Infrastructure- roads e.g. interstate highways
39
Q

What exogenous factors lead to economic boom of Detroit?

A
  • Investment - the car industry
  • Goods and migrants into the city
  • Migrants from the south, predominately black.
40
Q

What is Detroit 2020 mission doing?

A
  • Target is to take down blight (the run down, empty houses)
  • 7 Detroit neighbourhoods benefiting from investment or removing the blight
  • $5 million investment in Rosedale - west side
41
Q

How many structures needed intervention in 2014?

A

78,000

42
Q

What year did Detroit officially declare bankruptcy?

A

2013 - the largest city to ever do so

43
Q

Why is it difficult for Detroit to reduce inequality?

A

It doesn’t have a strong local economy to provide jobs with.

44
Q

How was culture brought from black people?

A

They created Motown e.g. Jackson 5

45
Q

What is being done to provide little opportunities?

A

Detroit Soup

46
Q

What is Detroit Soup?

A
  • Scheme where people pay a small fee ($5) for soup at a designated meeting place
  • Whilst entrepreneurs pitch their ideas in hope of getting a share of the $5 investment to support their business and then people vote for their favourite
  • E.G. Success of ‘always brewing Detroit’ providing a meeting place for communities
47
Q

Why did the car industry decline?

A
  • By 1970s Detroit was under pressure by foreign competitors like Honda + Toyota.
  • This was because the motor industry was struggling with their high wage cost compared to other countries so began shutting their plants and cutting jobs.
  • Led to a decline in corporation tax So economic decline and rust belt began to form in the city
48
Q

What percentage of people were white in 2010?

A

10.6%

49
Q

What percentage of people were black in 2010?

A

82.7%