Detroit

I came across this website over the weekend that documents abandoned houses in Detroit.  As I scrolled through the photos, it really got me thinking.  One thing that struck me was not the slow slide into dereliction, but the fact that most of these houses aren't anomalies. They aren't lone examples of neglect.  In fact, many of these houses are the last ones standing.

All the images got me thinking about the oddity of our abandoned settlements.  You can see in some of these houses, the grand city that Detroit once was.  Did you know that the now abandoned Michigan Central Station was designed by the same firms (Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stem) that designed Grand Central Station in New York City?  Add to that the fact that it was the tallest rail station in the world at the time of it's construction, and you begin to understand the grandeur that once was Detroit.

I know there are many reasons for the decline of Detroit, but it's just so hard for me to imagine that such a vibrant, thriving community never managed to save itself from such utter decline.  What happened?  Did they wait until it was too late?  Does Detroit show us what happens if we follow one path, one side of human nature?  Is this one possible future for humanity?

Maybe I read too much into this, but my mind works in leaps and bounds, and I've always been fascinated by abandoned structures.  They remind me that history repeats itself, that nothing physical is eternal.  The world is constantly in motion even though we don't see it because we're in motion too.  I'm also reminded that houses are simply skeletons, and that we are what make them unique and welcoming.  Without a human hand, they fade from homes to skeletons again.  

It's strange how quickly Detroit rose to fame with one brilliant individual, and it's strange how quickly that glory faded.  Now it almost seems like it's a ghost town.  

*Let me add that I've never been to Detroit, and that I'm not trying to put this city down too much.  In fact, Detroit is pretty much ground zero for urban farming in the US, and I think the urban farming future there holds a lot of promise for renewal.  It will be exciting to watch the transition, because the reality is that the population just won't ever be what it once was.