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Jun 16, 2008, 07:15AM

Don’t Neglect Detroit

Berlin and Detroit don’t have a lot in common. But who would have thought in the 1970s that Berlin would be prospering and Detroit would be irrevocably damaged?

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Photo by Dave Hogg

In Berlin, spaces take on multiple meanings. Every site and landmark demands an examination of its function before the war and after the war, before the wall and after the wall. It's for this very reason that the city is so baffling and appealing to tourists and residents alike. There is a sense of evolution and adventure behind every corner. Even now, nearly 20 years after the collapse of the wall, people venture into East Berlin as unknowingly as the Western taxi drivers in 1989 who suddenly needed maps to chauffer customers into the newly opened territory. When the state further decided on Berlin as the location for the unified German capital, people were skeptical. How could such a ruptured city with its visible scars and overwhelming guilt reconnect with the rest of Western Europe? There is no precedent for Berlin's transformation—from its resounding economic success to its overnight cosmopolitan allure. And in trying to comprehend how this could have all transpired, I couldn’t help but wonder if a similar urban renaissance could be applied to some of America’s own fallen cities.

Berlin's dark history is embedded in the city walls. The facades of the utilitarian structures in former East Berlin are riddled with bullet holes. Windows are slight and conformed, paint colors are limited, and grandeur is reserved for the interior rooms. But not every building looks like this. Just across the old territorial line, in West Berlin, stands the opulent mega department store KaDeWe. Constructed in 1905, the "Kaufhaus des Westerns" was an attraction for both its shops and architectural design. Through the 1930s and 1940s all expansion of the building came to a halt because of Jewish ownership restrictions. Then the store was gutted when a bomber crashed into its side. But only decades later, KaDeWe reopened and expanded by almost twofold to became the very symbol of Western Germany's economic prosperity.

Across town by Potsdamer Platz, there is a row of buildings along Wilhelmstrasse that once marked the Third Reich chancellery and Hitler's bunker. Now they are a row of apartment buildings, Indian restaurants, and other assorted establishments. One of the best views of this former Nazi headquarters comes from Mosse Palais, which is home to, among other things, the American Jewish Committee. Like Potsdamer Platz, the Reichstag was somewhat destroyed and rebuilt. The building that now houses German Parliament wasn't decimated like the commercial area down the street, but suffered an "accidental" fire in 1933. The amazing thing about the Reichstag is that it played almost no role in the politics of Hitler's Germany. The building rarely held hearings; in fact most meetings took place in a former Opera house called the Krolloper. In its new form, the Reichstag is a testament to the democratic process. Its iconic glass dome peers down into the auditorium as a reminder to the politicians of the weight of the people. It’s an act of class equality and accountability, a sort of wordless political take on the expression "never again."

There are other structures in Berlin that have developed over time with less public fanfare. Berghain, one of the city's hippest cult techno clubs, was carved out of a three story-tall power plant that was abandoned years ago. The building is just a few blocks away from the Ostbahnhof train station in Friedrichshain, a neighborhood that becomes increasingly more industrial beyond its transit center. The lot is unassuming in the daytime. All that marks it is a narrow path lined by wire fences and heaps of sand. But at night the lights of the top floor Panorama Bar can be seen from a distance, as well as lines of people after four a.m. (If you arrive between midnight and two a.m. there is usually no one there). Berghain embraces its surroundings. Chains hang over ledges, graffiti colors the walls, and stairwells just keep going up. The space is as important as anything else.

Oddly enough, when I was in Berlin I couldn't help but think of Detroit. The immediate parallel was just the sheer size of the streets and the empty lots. There is physical carnage up and down every avenue. GM and Ford haunt the city with relics of abandoned factories and storehouses; some of the condemned buildings are marked with orange paint. It's an extreme comparison, but the failed car industry in Detroit has left both economic and political damage in the city that might reflect the insurmountable position given to Berlin. There is so much opportunity for the city to move forward but it’s perpetually stilted by its past.

Alas, there will be no economic miracle in Detroit, at least nothing as significant as Germany's financial rebound. But maybe the key is in the way people look at the city; a change in perspective. Abandoning the history doesn't necessitate abandoning the actual physical structures. Detroit has had an immeasurable role in U.S. industry and it’s written on the building fronts. There's something to be treasured in these giant lots and junkyards. These structures don't all need to be kept, but they also don't need to be razed to the ground leaving no trace.

Berlin proves that you can let go of the damage and pain associated with the past, while building on its history and constructing new functions for the future. Conversely, Detroit is still in ruins, with no transformation in sight. An urban renaissance seems unlikely, but the first step is a simple acknowledgment of the value of history, no matter how negative it may be. And if Berlin can rework its patched-together portrait, well, then Detroit doesn't have an excuse.

Discussion
  • I will agree with one thing here, they key to Detroit reinventing itself is a change in perspective--both internally and from the rest of the country. Aside from that, this article reeks of somebody who has a passive familiarity with Detroit, but hasn't really paid attention to its development. The ebbs and flows of the auto industry have prevented the city from diversifying its economy for over 50 years. However, even with the recent "Big 3" trauma, Detroit has been renovating its historic buildings (Book Cadillac, Fort Shelby), planning new development downtown and along the waterfront, the development of a miles long riverwalk, converting an abandoned rail line in the heart of the city into a bike trail etc. etc. Detroit has made some substantial strides recently. Combine that with the movement of new businesses downtown, substantial cultural offerings and the most concrete light rail proposal in the city's history and Detroit may actually be turning the corner. Hell, the New York times listed it as a "must visit" destination for this summer! This article reeks with the perspective of somebody who has passively watched the city without following its efforts. Yes, there is a long way to go, but there is more going on in the city than there has been since the advent of suburbia. If Baker took the time to explore Detroit the way he apparently explored Berlin, he would see that the two are remarkably similar, not only in their post-industrial makeup, but in their turnaround efforts. The internationally successful "shrinking cities" art/cultural exhibit closely examined Detroit, Berlin and the efforts of other cities to reinvent themselves for the 21st century chronicled this parallel progress. To say that Detroit is "still in ruins with no turnaround in sight" is little more than a misinformed person furthering the negative perspective that he claims needs to change.

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  • I'll let Baker and dtdowntown duke it out over bragging rights on familiarity with Detroit, but dt, having the New York Times award Detroit as a "must visit" destination means absolutely nothing. With the number of travel articles the paper runs, some excellent, more atrocious, Detroit's turn was bound to come up. Even Newark, still devastated from the 60s riots, got a great write-up in the Times.

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  • There's no WAY I'm going to Detroit. Too cold, too Midwestern and, from what I've heard, too nasty.

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  • Timothy, thanks for picking one of my "thrown in" points on why Detroit isn't as bad as everyone thinks it is. Yeah, there are some odd choices on the list, but see for yourself. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/travel/20071209_WHERE_GRAPHIC.html

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  • Just to cut across political, age and country lines, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sporting News, Maxim and Toronto Star have also had positive pieces on various city attractions within the last year.

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  • No offense intended, DT, but are you moonlighting as a member of Detroit's Chamber of Commerce?

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  • haha, no. In fact, I am disgusted by Detroit for its public policy, political stonewalling, resistance to change, de facto segregation and refusal of the cities in the area to cooperate with one another. But, I am more disgusted by the people who dislike Detroit based on their perception of the city despite not really knowing anything about it. That would be like me saying, "I'm not going to LA--I'll probably get shot in that smoggy shithole,"

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  • Don't go to LA. You'll probably get shot in that smoggy shithole.

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  • Hmm. As my mom says, and far too often, another country heard from. Don't know if my brother from L.A. is being sarcastic or not, but I reiterate: this young fellow ain't going to Detroit. David Bowie's classic "Panic in Detroit" sticks in my head. I can see the Tigers, whom I like a lot for an A.L. Central team, play here at Angels Stadium.

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  • I would NEVER go to Detroit, for fun at least. First off, the Tigers are doing terrible. Secondly, it has some of the worst neighborhoods in the nation.

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  • @ dtdowntown: "I am disgusted by Detroit for its public policy, political stonewalling, resistance to change, de facto segregation and refusal of cities in the area to cooperate with one another." That perfectly sums up the state of Michigan, not just Detroit. Dt, your optimism is justified in that, yes, there is some grassroots turnaround in the downtown areas with some hipster watering holes, MOCAD, a renovated DIA and a burgeoning arts scene in general. There are dozens of entrepreneurs making shit happen all over D-town. Baker is also right in that if you look at the whole state, you see the worst effing economy in the US; you see an auto industry that can't make a dollar to save its life (literally); you have a vicious Republican base that attempts to vote people out of office on the premise of one piece of legislation; you have a deeply segregated (by ethnicity and class) state with a perpetual brain drain. No one with a degree hangs around. As long as people live in large groups you're going to have "cultural production" that deserves to be heralded. Michigan is up to its upper lip in economic woe. You're both right. You're both wrong.

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  • So I guess back to Timothy's first comment about bragging rights--I would lose, I'm sure of it. At my age I can't feign any kind of expertise on any subject. All I can do is provide arguments and ideas that might be original or youthful or what have you. So please don't take the tone of this article as authoritative, cause it's not. Detroit has a lot going for it. Like DT and Klein mentioned: MOCAD, DIA Fort Shelby...etc. But what I wanted to point out was that the attitude toward its history is very divergent from that of Berlin's (even though there are parallels in the damage it has caused each city). And even in this argument, it's rather unfair. Berlin and the rest of Germany had to own up to its horrific exploits, that's why you see some of these structure still in tack. Thats why Treptower Park still holds an awesome Soviet memorial. Detroit is not obligated to retain the memory of its economic collapse in the 80s and 90s, after all, who wants to remember that in 1989 there were approximately 0 contracts for new buildings. But in Berlin, they have had an urban renaissance without hiding everything thats happened in the past fifty years. And I think the same could be true for Detroit. Things are happening, but if the approach is to pretend that the past twenty years were simply a mirage, well that might be a mit misguided.

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  • I'm going with gbaker on this one, although this is a debate that's multi-faceted. But it's not just the past 20 years that have left Detroit in a hole. Like so many other formerly prosperous American cities--Buffalo, Baltimore, Cleveland, Newark, to name just a few--the decline began long ago, whether it was commerce deserting the cities, or the respective governments never rebuilding from the riots of the 60s.

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  • I would argue that it is not the economic woes of the past 20 years that left Detroit in a hole, but rather the economic prosperity of the 1990s. Lest we forget, Detroit's economy was booming in the 90s, spurred by the advent of SUVs and the availability of cheap gas. Unfortunately, this created a disincentive to change, just as the rest of the US (including Baltimore and Cleveland, as well as New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh etc.) underwent an urban renaissance. The good times allowed the region to further ignore its crumbling infrastructure and the Auto industry refused to look into the future and see beyond SUV profits. At the base level, Detroit's (and Michigan's) inability to reinvent itself is due to its dependence on the auto industry. Not until they diversify their economy will they be able to avoid the cyclical nature that has prevented real progress. That being said, I think that the region's extensive industrial infrastructure and expertise may allow it to reinvent the American auto industry and become a leader in alternative-energy research and engineering as the situation has now become dire enough to open some eyes.

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  • DT you nailed it right there. Inch'allah.

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