Urban Decay: Am I the only one who can't take it?

[j33]

CarolinaBredChicagoan - I suppose you are right, I guess being I, for all intents and purposes, grew up right around all that 'industrial' landscape, I never really never paid much attention to the factories, etc that surrounded my neighborhoods and that many people I knew worked at. I guess the industrial/manufacturing thing is mostly confined to certain regions of the country.

Anyone here ever drive past the Thornton Quarry (I remember being scared of it when I was a kid, and being that I grew up by it, we always drove past it).

[Huckleberry3911948]

paris is 2000 years old and looks just fine.
what goes bad is conduct not buildings.
no matter how pretty the building are, conduct is the only issue.
urban renewal does not work, nice try but no cigar.
its bout how we treat each other. we dont treat each other very well do we?
we all need to do a better job.
money does not make people nicer, it just makes them fatter.
wow strong opinions, i will stop now and be quiet, guna go get a cup of coffee.

[aragx6]

Yes Paris is a beautiful, wonderful place to live for everyone. That's why there were widespread riots and fires in '05.

I think one of the reasons why people tend to think of foreign cities as being perfect is for much the same reason why tourists here don't see the bad areas. Tourists stick to the touristy areas. People don't go to Paris to wander around the slums, just as tourists don't come to Chicago and go hang out on the West side.

[rgb123]

There is no comparison...European cities are not perfect, no place is perfect...but its simply a reality that Europen cities do not have the kind of violence, especially gun violence that we have. You dont simply wander into a bad part of town in Paris (Trust me, I was lost for hours and hours and in my Chicago brain I kept wondering when I was going to wander into the "bad part of town" I never did...and its a huge city HUGE).

The riots in Paris were more like a movement, a statement about rights and race...its not like the daily shootings we have here, and they were in the "suburbs" rather confined to a certain area. Paris is not sliced in half like Chicago is....to ignore that is just unrealistic....I am facsinated as well by the industrial areas....but the difference between north and south is stark. I'm not here to defend Paris....I really dont care much about Paris...or think its some happy place where nothing bad ever happens (The day I was lost some old man lost his kidneys on a park bench....)

Anyhow, you simply dont worry about getting taken out by a bullet in Europe. I lived in Holland, and London...not exactly a tourist.

Do they have other problems? yes. the whole point was, you can't compare European cities to relativley new Chicago.....

[cyrusjul]

Originally Posted by via chicago

and to the OP, you call Chicago dirty...have you ever been to NY?

Sorry but is this what you think represents the whole city of NYC? I live in NYC and I have never seen it like that. Maybe a trash can fell over or there was a festival that just had finished. But please.

You think there other areas that are probably dirtier? Like the South Bronx perphaps? Check out my photos here and see that the streets and sidewalks for the most part tend to be clean. The shocking thing is that plenty of these areas are fill with people walking around too...

(Warning there are alot of photos in those links, but they are worth it!! These are all my photos.)

Go ahead and take a tour of the Bronx...

Walking in Mott Haven, The Bronx - Wired New York Forum

Walking in Bedford Park, The Bronx - Wired New York Forum

Other places you can check out...

Manhattan (Downtown)...

Walking in The Financial District - Wired New York Forum

Walking in Little Italy/Chinatown - Wired New York Forum


Harlem (uptown)...

NYC: Harlem, Manhattan (Part 1 - 60 photos!) - Wired New York Forum

Harlem, Manhattan (Part 2 - 55 photos!) - Wired New York Forum

Morningside Heights, Manhattan (Lots of Photos) - Wired New York Forum

Queens...

Walking in Jackson Heights, Queens - Wired New York Forum

Hunters Point, Queens (Lots of Photos!) - Wired New York Forum

Brooklyn...

Walking in Downtown Brooklyn - 55 Photos! - Wired New York Forum

Walking in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn - Wired New York Forum

[Lookout Kid]

New York is wonderful. I'm always amazed at how much the outer burroughs look almost exactly like old Chicago neighborhoods. I've been around Brooklyn and Queens quite a bit, but not so much in the Bronx. Thanks for the pics.

That photo with the trash must have been taken during one of the garbage strikes or something... Or after a street festival. But New York does have a bigger trash and rat problem than Chicago because of the lack of alleys. You would never walk by a pile of trash bags on the sidewalk in Chicago.

[cyrusjul]

That is true. When is trash day, you do have to walk by piles of trash bags. And yes NYC does have a rat problem. But the city does clean its streets and sidewalks. They will never get as bad as that one photo.

[M TYPE X]

Whenever I drive back to metro Detroit from midstate Illinois, I drive over the Thornton Quarry. I still think it's odd.

I'm not one for agricultural cornbelts or post-industrial sunbelts. I love the refinery along I-55, south of I-80. I'm much happier in Chicagoland or Metro Detroit in the sense that I know where I am. However, the last time I was in Cleveland, I said "whoa this place is the pits."

Chicagoland's high dose of prairie (southwest and western suburbs) isn't for me either, although much of metro Detroit is rather flat.

It's ALL about what you find familiar.

[Milliano]

Originally Posted by M TYPE X

Chicagoland's high dose of prairie (southwest and western suburbs) isn't for me either, although much of metro Detroit is rather flat.

How do you like the prairies of inner city Detroit?









from: Wrong side of the tracks

Yes, these photos were taken in Detroit itself, and not of parkland. Sometimes this is what happens when a city goes beyond urban "decay". Certainly it's prettier than abandoned buildings. Chicago has some blocks slightly similar to this, but not nearly as much.

Today, the neighborhood is post-apocalyptic, having passed through the worst standard stages of neighborhood decline: falling housing values, longtime residents moving to the suburbs, crumbling properties converted to rentals, a growth of criminal activity, abandonment by anyone who can afford to leave, and finally the disappearance of the houses themselves.