Detroit Flashcards
Location of Detroit
Michigan North USA - Detroit river which links the 2 great lakes which connects to the Atlantic.
History
Founded in 1701 by French Colonialists
Geography
Very flat plains and very large. 138 square miles. Shipping hub of the North East in the 1800s.
Population
According to the US census between 1910 - 2010 the population rose from 300,000 to 1.8m in 1950 and then dropped to 700,000 in 2010. This included an influx of African Americans.
The Steel Belt Boom
Expansion of the auto industry with firms such as Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
These firms used innovative production processes, e.g. assembly line production.
The Rust belt and the great decline
1970s International oil crisis
Demand for vehicles with greater fuel efficiency caused competition with Asian car manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota and Nissan led to a decline in sales and profits.
This led to a closing of plants and job cuts.
in the 1970s machine automation made thousands of jobs redundant.
City quality
Decline in tax revenue caused a reduction in the city’s tax base leading to a decline in the city’s social and municipal services, the population was very spread out as road and rail services where left unrepaired.
The city is operating at a $300 million loss of municipal sustainability.
2012 Average Detroit house prices reached $7500 and in 2013, 47 houses were listed for $500 or less.
The Detroit news reported more than 50% of property owners didn’t pay taxes at a loss of $131 million (12% of city’s budget).
Standard of living
- By 2014, two-third of Detroit’s residents could not afford basic needs like food and fuel and the poverty rate was 38%
- Life expectancy in parts of Detroit is just 69 years, and less than 30% of students graduate from high school
- In 2014 Detroit had the second highest murder rate of any US city
