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There is so much desire to restore Detroit back to greatness that if some wide-eyed investor wanted to build a bunch of supertall skyscrapers in Detroit and modernize the city, Detroit City Council would be very receptive and helpful as to make sure that such an investor got everything he wanted for his developments.
Also, property prices in Detroit are low enough that some international, super-rich real estate firm could realistically purchase a great portion of the city (or purchase the entire city) and redevelop the city to their whim.
This is not such a terrible or unrealistic idea since Detroit has plenty of fresh water and has a pretty great geographic location.
There is so much desire to restore Detroit back to greatness that if some wide-eyed investor wanted to build a bunch of supertall skyscrapers in Detroit and modernize the city, Detroit City Council would be very receptive and helpful as to make sure that such an investor got everything he wanted for his developments.
Also, property prices in Detroit are low enough that some international, super-rich real estate firm could realistically purchase a great portion of the city (or purchase the entire city) and redevelop the city to their whim.
This is not such a terrible or unrealistic idea since Detroit has plenty of fresh water and has a pretty great geographic location.
Why build a bunch of skyscrapers when you can buy them at fire-sale prices for pennies on the dollar? Dan Gilbert has been doing exactly that and then hiring people to fill them; don't need an international real estate firm when you have a local billionaire doing the job already.
It's the other way around. The influence of real estate is why 80%of Detroit is Black. During the Great Depression, the United States government invented a way to gauge whether neighborhoods were a good or bad credit risk, mostly based on what race of people lived in those neighborhoods. They made a new government loan program, making it easier to get home loans, but did not allow loans where the credit risk was high (in other words, where the people were black or brown.) After World War II, lots of Americans were eligible for those loans, and even better loans via the GI Bill, but if you weren't white it was tough to get them, and harder to find a house where you could buy--it was legal to prohibit sale to people who were not white.
As a result, most of those loans went to new suburbs that were being built outside the city limits of cities like Detroit. Many Western cities were able to grow their populations by annexing the suburbs, but Eastern cities often did not have that option. Those discriminatory programs and laws slowed down or ended in the 1960s and 1970s but by them the systemic damage was already done, and we're still dealing with the consequences half a century later--or, more often, not dealing with them and pretending they don't exist, which is exactly why it's still a problem.
Bringing this back to Dubai, having a permanent, legally established slave class is pretty much necessary to build a place like Dubai, and regardless of how far we still have to go in the United States, at least we outlawed slavery a while back.
Anywhere in the desert west. Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming have miles upon miles of undeveloped land that new cities could be housed. West Texas is another. So many places.
I agree. Somewhere West Texas would be the perfect candidate for a new, ultra modern and futuristic city. But I think it should aim to be better than Dubai!
Dubai has a density of 408/km - it's an ultra low density city.
Zoning is set by the municipality. If you buy up a bunch of land in the middle of wherever and incorporate it then that entity can zone it how it likes.
I agree. Somewhere West Texas would be the perfect candidate for a new, ultra modern and futuristic city. But I think it should aim to be better than Dubai!
What about all the GOP politics though? It might not be too many people around in terms of density, but whatever politicans govern the area might harbor anti-urban attitudes. Any way to prevent a NIMBY backlash?
It's the other way around. The influence of real estate is why 80%of Detroit is Black. During the Great Depression, the United States government invented a way to gauge whether neighborhoods were a good or bad credit risk, mostly based on what race of people lived in those neighborhoods. They made a new government loan program, making it easier to get home loans, but did not allow loans where the credit risk was high (in other words, where the people were black or brown.) After World War II, lots of Americans were eligible for those loans, and even better loans via the GI Bill, but if you weren't white it was tough to get them, and harder to find a house where you could buy--it was legal to prohibit sale to people who were not white.
As a result, most of those loans went to new suburbs that were being built outside the city limits of cities like Detroit. Many Western cities were able to grow their populations by annexing the suburbs, but Eastern cities often did not have that option. Those discriminatory programs and laws slowed down or ended in the 1960s and 1970s but by them the systemic damage was already done, and we're still dealing with the consequences half a century later--or, more often, not dealing with them and pretending they don't exist, which is exactly why it's still a problem.
Bringing this back to Dubai, having a permanent, legally established slave class is pretty much necessary to build a place like Dubai, and regardless of how far we still have to go in the United States, at least we outlawed slavery a while back.
What damage? Why did blacks not make the areas they resided in the most desirable place to go? What you explain does not have any relation as to why numerous black majority areas are pretty bad places to live.
Your explanation is basically saying that blacks are incapable of living in masses with each other, without turning the area into a ghetto.
The damage was done by the bulldozers of urban renewal that demolished neighborhoods and tore them apart with freeways that were useful to the white folks who had moved to the suburbs, but not to the folks stuck downtown.
Blacks could not make the areas they resided in more desirable because they were systematically denied the economic opportunities that white folks were--they couldn't get the loans and did not have the economic power, as a community, to make those changes. Their very existence was classified as blight by banks, the real estate and business community. It's not at all that they were incapable of living in masses with each other--the dominant culture were incapable of recognizing their presence as anything but a social evil.
Which brings us back to Dubai.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pookie Jenkins
What about all the GOP politics though? It might not be too many people around in terms of density, but whatever politicans govern the area might harbor anti-urban attitudes. Any way to prevent a NIMBY backlash?
GOP politics aren't the problem--the GOP are currently ruled by people who want the United States to be a corporate oligarchy. The best way to prevent NIMBY backlash is to severely restrict freedom of speech and remove private citizens from decision-making authority...which is basically Dubai. You can have unlimited control for those with lots of money to build whatever they want without interference, or you can have democracy. Pick one.
Last edited by wburg; 12-17-2014 at 12:04 AM..
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