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I've recently taken and interest in Detroit and I'm looking to get a feel for how urban it is.
So take a city of comparable size I am familiar with, Seattle, and compare it to Detroit: Which do you think is more urban?
Which is more organized around an urban core (downtown), how lively is that downtown, how compact is the metro, which has more urban cores outside the city limits, which has better transportation, density, etc.
Detroit used to be by far more urban, but is now a mere shell of its former self, a broke welfare state whos budget runs so deep in the red that it can't even afford to maintain its crumbling infrastructure, which was built for a mil+ people more than they have today. Wilderness is now reclaiming formerly urban neighborhoods.
It will eventually be forced to shrink its borders by fragmenting itself to save its downtown, its last hope.
Seattle is more urban today and has a much brighter future ahead of it.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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This might be the first time ever I agreed with Killakoolaide.
City of Detroit has started bull dozing the vacant homes, and it's city is shrinking. Supposedly it's fallen 80,000 since the last census, we will see next year when the new census comes out.
I'm visiting the city for 2 days next week. I want to see it for myself and how much it's changed since the last time I went (2 years ago).
The good thing that can be pulled from Detroit is that it is now a living case study, for other US cities to look at, to show what can happen if a city is run by corruption rather than the free market.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by killakoolaide
The good thing that can be pulled from Detroit is that it is now a living case study, for other US cities to look at, to show what can happen if a city is run by corruption rather than the free market.
I don't think that's the lesson other cities can learn. I think a diverse economy is the biggest lesson any city can learn from Detroit.
I am trying to visualize around this same time next week when I visit Detroit and walk on the streets of it's downtown and how it would be like. I am more curious than anything at this point.
I don't think that's the lesson other cities can learn. I think a diverse economy is the biggest lesson any city can learn from Detroit.
I am trying to visualize around this same time next week when I visit Detroit and walk on the streets of it's downtown and how it would be like. I am more curious than anything at this point.
Tragic.
union corruption was a major reason why Detroits economy wasn't able to properly diversify.
Seattle by a long shot. Detroit had 2 million people in its heyday, most recently down to 800,000. The city itself hasn't shrunk and, like another poster mentioned, they are tearing down entire blocks of houses which are empty and dilapidated because they can't afford to patrol that much of the city with their budget issues.
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