The Florida Report is an eight-part video series from The Atlantic featuring Richard Florida.
The seventh installment in The Florida Report is titled “Why Detroit Needs to Go Back to Its Roots.” Richard argues that planned shrinkage isn’t the best way to save Motown.
To view the other videos in this series, please click here.
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Richard’s arguement is flawed. NO one want to demolish “assets.” There are miles upon miles of RUINED properties that desperately NEED demolition. No one is can sanely argue for the preservation of these substandard and partially burnt homes and 60s-style strip malls. These are homes and cinder-block buildings that have little to no historical value and that no one wants to occupy.
Detroit has already been abandoned. Of course we want to preserve the historical buildings and “assets.” This is not exclusive to urban farming plans or city shrinkage. City chrikage simply means accelerated removal of unsafe and unviable buildings, of which there is an enormous and insurmountable glut. Check out Blight Busters, a non profit who for years has been using volunteers to help clear wreckable of buildings and homes that are unsafe and corrosive to neighbohood pride and taxing to city services.
City shrikage has nothing to do with bulldozing historic areas. It’s simply a way to elevate the standard of living for people who live in the city, and attract the wealth of suburban areas back to the center. City shrikage IS condusive to return to Detroit roots.