Detroit - economic restructuring Flashcards
background info
- uniquely America city, as an economic powerhouse, was once thriving hub of the car industry
- ‘urban ruin’
- culturally the motor city
- 1920-50, 4th most populous city in USA
what happened to Detroit?
- industry moved to outside the city were labour was cheaper eg GM production to Canada where it also gets incentives to provide jobs to locals
- went through deindustrialization
- new motorways didn’t help, as easier for people to get out
what social impacts has it had?
- since 1950s has lost half of its population
- people moved out from the centre, 800,000 in the city, 4 million around the city
- 3/10 unemployed
- high crime rate (7/10 murders unsolved)
- increasing gap between richest + poorest
how many people are homeless?
15,000
what is Detroit described as now?
“warzone”
gangs, drug dealing, buildings set on fire
why has employment suffered?
as industries moved out of the city there were less and less places for people to be hired
eg GM production 2006 -2008 closed 4 of plants in Michigan costing 12,000 jobs
what was Detroits crucial mistake?
relying on manufacturing in the industrial age -> when modernising they needed more land to extend their assembly line -> began to leave cities to look for more land
how many skyscrapers are abandoned in the city?
12
what happened to Henry ford’s business centre?
was shut down due to motorway, it has not been fixed since bc its too expensive
what is an example of the decline its experienced
Carl’s steakhouse, 30 years it had dozens of staff and used to be heaving -> now its empty and theres little staff
in 2009 how many people did GM production hire from other countries?
31,000
1/3 of Detroits population
what are possible solutions?
- market gardening
- set up co-operatives
- organise patrols at night to protect abandoned homes
- due to limited refunding = reliant on philanthropic + business groups
- undergo gentrification of abandoned architectural gems
what affect did the 1967 riots have?
pitted whites against blacks -> led to deprivation + racism
African americas were barred from moving to the suburbs
what did the Interstate highway act of 1956 do?
allowed for the expanse of highways
this empowered people to more to the suburbs where it was low density. this left a centre dominated by black working class -> led to widening divide and more people moved away
environmental impact of decline?
- abandoned buildings -> used for drug hiding + dealing
- massive brownfield site
- decline in environmental quality -> collapse of tax base
- accumulation of corpses as family unable to pay for funerals
