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06/02/2005 Archived Entry: "NPR on Detroit"

NPR on Detroit
NPR story this afternoon states that all of downtown Detroit is now a historic landmark. The declaration, a response to the wanton destruction of the Madison-Lenox Hotel, is meant to stop the wrecking balls. But, based on what I heard in the report, the city seems to still feel unconvinced by the "preservationists." A problem. Who opposes destruction? Those dang preservationists. Concern over urban identity is not just a question of preservation. It is a question of identity. Take the city without historical identity: Orlando. Strip malls. Amusement parks. Franchises. Row after row of the same housing. Is that the alternative? So far, early financial investment in this so-called revitalization of Detroit points slightly in this way. Tearing down historic buildings will speed up the process. Or take the hyperbole of Orlando as example: Las Vegas. Is that the answer (maybe it was once when the casinos were built here)?
The economic reality is that keeping the buildings is expensive – expensive, of course, because of the city’s neglect. That neglect is one of its own identity: We are no longer a city of automobiles, so who are we? We are not these hotels, for no one comes to stay here, so who are we? We are not a transport hub for the railways, so who are we?
Such answers, as other urban environments seem to show (Brooklyn, Chicago, Philadelphia) is the buildings themselves, the empty spaces. These spaces can and should be filled in (as opposed to being razed for the next big time franchise or parking lot). They can be filled in with anything, but the space should remain because its power and need is centered on the city’s need for urban identity and not Orlando-esque suburban identity of the same.

Posted by Brendan Riley @ 06/06/2005 06:20 AM EST

In philadelphia, see the Arts Front as an example. A group commissioned artists to put displays in empty storefronts -- some of these were so interesting that at least one bus driver stopped his bus and had everyone get off to look at one example (and then they all got back on the bus).

In Orlando, the oldest building in the city -- yes it does have a city -- is occupied by the Downtown Media Arts Center

Also -- what do you think of Andrew Ross's mostly positive assessment of the new urbanist fantasy in the Disney town of Celebration or the many imitators all over Florida -- one is named TRADITION!!

Posted by Craig @ 06/04/2005 08:34 PM EST