There is an enigmatic charm about ruins from ancient civilizations- structural remains of the past, manifestations of everything sacred being incorporated to built environment. There’s a certain temporal dissonance they inspire with their relatable yet foreign nature. What then, of a contemporary city that lays in ruin? Of something so familiar to the contemporary westerner, that these ruins transcend an uncanny valley of urbanism- these places, these systems, these structures were constructed to last. To see Detroit in this condition is to understand the impermanence of even this contemporary experience, that even great cities with soaring skyscrapers can fall. And fallen it has.
All over the city remnants of a glorious Art Deco past litter weed-choked sidewalks, and once glorious buildings have become canvases for a new wave of artists. However, for every abandoned boulevard and broken utility pole, there are patches of resistance. Some people never left, and some newcomers have seen the value of place here, and work to move past the litany of issues that brought the city down in the first place.
It is the story of a city in flux, one that is continuously being written. While it still teeters on the verge of complete destruction, I feel it is prudent to note that there are enough people actively reconstructing the potential here that it just may usher in the latest manifestation of viability.
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