[lit-ideas] Re: Material Memories

I found The Ruins of Detroit series very powerful. I understand the concept of urban decay, I think I understand why it happens, but I've never really witnessed it anywhere I've been.
The first time I saw the reality of urban decay was in Manchester, England. It was the worst cities I'd ever seen. 

There was a recent article in Harpers, I think, about Detroit.
Detroit was the center of American industrialization and one of the ten largest cities in the USA.
Note the "was". Detroit has decayed so much that it is reverting to nature. There tens of thousands of abandoned houses. Entire city blocks are empty. Here and there, people are using subsistence farming to make a living. Wildlife is returning to the city. In fact, trees are growing from the sides of skyscrapers. Those too have been abandoned. It's a sort of post-apocalyptic landscape. 

Like New Orleans, the USA is simply abandoning its major cities.

yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Teemu Pyyluoma" <teme17@xxxxxxxxx> 
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 1:51 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Material Memories


Catching up on mail, I find this gem. Thank you John.
is something wrong with a deserted railway station as pictured in http://reliques.online.fr/detroit/detroit04.html as that knowing why in theory isn't enough to answer why in practice. 

Cheers,
Teemu

----- Original Message ----
From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Anthro-L <ANTHRO-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 2:02:52 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Material Memories
Those with an interest in archeology and architecture may find this as fascinating as I did. 


http://reliques.online.fr/#

--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN

Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/







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