Dogs are cute. Stray dogs can be too, but maybe not when they’ve bred into their thousands and they chase in packs to survive. Despite efforts to count the number of stray dogs that roam the ruins of Detroit the number is still unclear. But 20,000 is a rough guesstimate, and 1,700 dogs are rounded up annually by dog catchers.
The city of Detroit is a rare case. For the first time we see what happens when the urbanisation trend reverses direction and a major city depopulates at a rapid pace. Depending on who you believe, there are between 30,000 and 80,000 vacant buildings in Detroit, and many of them provide shelter for the homeless animals. And health problems arise when the dogs and numerous rats meet.
We’re in unchartered territory here, Detroit’s recent bankruptcy is the culmination of the dramatic transformation that has seen the population decrease to just over 700.000. A decline of 25 percent over the last decade and significantly down from the close to two million people who inhabited the streets during the Motor City’s heyday in the 1950s and 1960s.
The demise of the American car industry as a result of globalization was a dagger through the heart for Motown but Detroit has seen its fair share of problems over the years; the riots in the 60s, the drugs and the gangs in the 70s and the so-called “white flight”, where the white middle class began to move into the suburbs in the 70s and 80s, causing the city to have among the highest levels of unemployment and poverty in the US in the 80s. But nothing compared to the urban decay of today.
At Svenska Myntkabinettet an exhibition entitled Crisis (Krisen – en resa i globaliseringens ruiner) portrays the palpable consequences economic change can bring. Brought to us by economic historian and photographer Jan Jörnmark, the exhibition depicts the ghost town-like eeriness of de-industrialized Detroit while the second part of the exhibition give an account of the European economic crisis and its unpleasant result.
On a brighter note, despite the depressing state of Detroit outlined in the Crisis exhibition there is hope that a new and creative Detroit will develop among the ruins. According to John Gallagher’s book Reimagining Detroit there are numerous sound initiatives that can take advantage of vacant lots and buildings. A lot of the ideas consist of various forms of urban farming – 800 community gardens have already sprung up in the city, and ambitious plans exist where the idea is taken to a commercial-scale and the city eventually could possess the biggest urban farm system in the world. Students at Michigan State University have concluded that the empty lots of Detroit could supply 76 percent of the vegetables and 42 percent of all fruit needed for the healthy diet of one million people. And to complete the makeover, the heart of the American car industry could become a cyclist’s heaven. If they can find the money to do so, the aim is to turn much of the underused space into a network of 600-700 kilometres of bike lanes.
Photos by Jan Jörnmark
