29/11/2018

(http://www.mediapolisjournal.com/)

A JOURNAL OF CITIES AND CULTURE

BY SPENCER CUNNINGHAM (HTTP://WWW.MEDIAPOLISJOURNAL.COM/AUTHOR/SCUNNINGHAM/) / OCTOBER

27, 2017

RUINS, REPRESENTATION, AND

THE RIGHT TO THE CITY

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C
ontemporary urban environments offer a wealth of rich
social and cultural narratives for analysis. Cities lend The visual culture of
themselves to media practices of photography and lm, ruin inevitably
providing aesthetic representations of contemporary urban life. overlooks—or
The city is not only a geographic place, it is a dynamic social and inaccurately
cultural organism in uenced by an ongoing process of growth and represents—the
decay. This ux is often represented by media which focus on the dynamic complexity
urban environment—notably its infrastructures or lack thereof—as of contemporary
an indicator of the conditions of a city. The urban as represented by cities and the
contemporary ruin photography and lm is often cited for its experiences of its
aesthetic quality or for the narratives these media provide to their citizens
audience. Yet the visual culture of ruin inevitably overlooks—or
inaccurately represents—the dynamic complexity of contemporary cities and the experiences of its
citizens, as urban explorers employ architecture and infrastructure as their primary subjects.

This paper seeks to explore questions of aestheticizing and historicizing the shifting nature of
contemporary cities as they are represented through media which employs Detroit Michigan as the
subject of photography and lm commonly referred to as “ruin-porn.” Images of crumbling buildings
and desolate urban space being reclaimed by nature provide a stark contrast to historical images of
the booming hub of American manufacturing—once a model for future cities. The places and
structures that once signalled socioeconomic prosperity and urban growth now become the subject
of media which seem to indicate the decay and death of a contemporary city. While these images
provide a compelling allure to observers outside Detroit, considering them as purely artistic
representation risks overlooking the true causes of Detroit’s widespread urban decay, and risks
reinforcing a cultural narrative of loss and despair about the city through overrepresentation of
urban ruins. Detroit is not unique in terms of the social and economic forces which drive its growth
and regression; however, the scale on which Detroit experienced industrialization and subsequent
deindustrialization is perhaps more drastic than other comparative cities. As representation through
lm and photography occurs in large part from the perspective of outsiders looking in, Detroit
becomes fetishized as a city which seems to no longer exist, evident by its ruination.

While the dichotomy of growth and decay can be applied to most cities, Detroit lends itself to these
discussions because of its widespread and continuing urban change, which has attracted many
photographers and lmmakers. Ruin-porn does more than provide a means of artistic expression, it
also implicates the lived experience of a city and the people who comprise them, and can also
function as an historical record of places and objects that signify past events or failures. The
widespread creation of ruin-porn based in Detroit often overlooks the cause and effect relationship
between socioeconomic inequality and urban decay in the interests of aesthetics and art, but it does
function as an archival media exemplifying the consequences of industry and social inequality as
they are captured and recorded. These media contribute to a record of urban decay and change in
contemporary cities. Questions of the value and meaning given to urban ruins and infrastructural
decay become increasingly paramount to consider in the case of Detroit because it continues to be a
functioning city. While historical relics of a past civilization may be considered culturally valuable
and therefore worth protecting, much of Detroit’s ruination is considered little more than blight and
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its cultural valuation differs as a result. Exploring the treatment and consideration of ruins in Detroit
as they pertain to media production and ruin-porn uncovers more than economic inequalities. The
cultural value and affective power of urban ruins varies throughout Detroit, and raises important
questions of how to manage the contemporary landscape; it also varies by the positionality of
producer and consumer. What decay is considered worth maintaining and what is considered
disposable in the interests of revitalization? What do these urban ruins signify for the producers and
consumers of ruin-porn, and how does this differ between citizens and outside observers? While
ruin-porn does carry with it an aesthetic and cultural impression that itself is worth recognizing, it
also signi es the rise and fall of Fordism, and the consequences and class divisions of contemporary
capitalism as they unfold in a contemporary North American city.

The Breakdown of the Motor City

Ruin-porn focusing on Detroit often supports the idea that

Ruin-porn focusing industrialization and urban decay are integrally linked. Defunct
on Detroit often factories and the now abandoned neighbourhoods that once
supports the idea supported them form a large part of these media. As Arnold points
that industrialization out in her work, “Detroit has come to symbolize the social and
and urban decay are environmental consequences of industrial and urban decline in
integrally linked North America […] The same objects that once indicated progress,
1
now point to decline.” Arnold, Sarah. 2015. “Urban Decay
Photography and Film: Fetishism and the Apocalyptic Imagination.” Journal of Urban History (SAGE
Publications) 41 (2): 335. Photography collections like Marchand and Meffre’s The Ruins of Detroit
(2010)(http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit) exemplify the dramatic transformation of the city’s
contemporary urban landscape with tremendous aesthetic appeal. While the creators state that
much of Detroit’s ruins have transcended their role as urban artifact and now function as seemingly
natural elements of Detroit’s landscape, this claim disregards the unnatural reality of these ruins.
The urban change experienced in Detroit has not occurred from one historical moment, nor has it
occurred over a short period. It is also crucial to consider that the decay has not occurred equally
across the city in terms of geography, status or class. Research by John F. McDonald provides a
timeline of contemporary social and economic in uence in Detroit exemplifying the unequal and
industry-centric growth which contributes to the contemporary urban environment and spatial
arrangement of the city. His research cites three key determinants which place Detroit in a unique
category when compared to other urban areas in the Northeast: “the heavy concentration in the
auto industry […], importation of vast numbers of black and white southerners to work in industry,
and the fragmented political structure that permits whites to escape the problems in the central
2
city.” McDonald, John F. 2014. “What happened to and in Detroit?” Urban Studies (SAGE
Publications) 51 (16): 3310. The most recent decade of this research provides a strong foundation to
consider the relationship between deindustrialisation and decay, as well as the relationship between
social inequalities, racialization and contemporary treatment of urban ruins. The loss of
manufacturing jobs is not unique to Detroit, but the city’s centralized industrial base put them at
higher risk of economic uncertainty post-recession, and Detroit was arguably harder hit than similar
3
cities. Ibid., 3324-5.  Promises of the global economy to provide an ever-cheaper workforce
provided the incentive for industry to make their exit from Detroit; this exodus provided the
necessary conditions for widespread urban decay to occur in the city, which has since attracted
many producers to capture the urban conditions of contemporary Detroit.  The creation of media
which place Detroit as the epicenter of contemporary North American urban decay often fail to
provide context to the complexity of this phenomena, focusing instead on urban ruins as art while
failing to consider the cause and effect relationship between broader issues which have contributed

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to this decay, what these ruins signify in terms of social and cultural importance, or how they
implicate the lived experience of Detroit’s residents.

The citizens of Detroit face the consequences of decisions made well beyond their own control. This
is true when considering those made by city planners and local government, but also with respect to
“The Big Three” who similarly in uenced the development of the city as an automotive hub,
contributing to its massive expansion and urban growth. While the creation of jobs that come
alongside industrialization are in some ways a social positive, automakers relied upon minority and
lower-class workers to support their factories which maintained class subordination between those
who bene ted from industry and the individuals who supported it. As automakers embraced the
global economy they left behind a small upper class with no employment and no reason to stay in
Detroit, and a much larger highly marginalized lower class with no economic base and few
opportunities for strati cation or relocation. As Steinmetz states, “just as the rise of Fordism created
twentieth-century Detroit, the demise of Fordism has been responsible for Detroit’s extreme
4
impoverishment and for peculiarities of its ruination.” Steinmetz, George. “Harrowed Landscapes:
white ruingazers in Namibia and Detroit and the cultivation of memory.” Visual Studies 23.3 (2008):
229. The problems faced by contemporary Detroit are, in large part, tied to the rapid population
growth needed for mass production factory jobs and the coinciding loss of these jobs in the face of
recession and increasing reliance upon global manufacturing, but they are also the product of
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racialization and class inequality. McDonald, “What happened to and in Detroit?”, 3320. As the city
undergoes a process of decay alongside processes of restoration and reimagination, we once again
see evidence of racial and class divisions. Residents who remain in Detroit suffer the consequences
of a post-Fordism Detroit, while ruin-porn creators reinforce narratives of decay and ruination
through their works.

Consequences of Detroit’s Urban Decay

As we can see from Marchand and Meffre’s The Ruins of Detroit,

the number of abandoned, condemned, or otherwise decayed While urban ruins
properties in Detroit results in an overwhelming number of striking provide subjects for
images— they disproportionately portray the city as dead. Photos artistic creation and
of industrial spaces like the Fisher Plant and Packard Plant not only consumption,
show the level of decay that has occurred, but the enormous size of outside of this
these industrial areas that now sit abandoned and in varying states mediated
of ruin. Similarly, photos of the Rich-Dex apartments or Jane perspective they
Cooper Elementary School invoke the true scale of urban decay influence the lived
and abandonment in terms of the toll taken on individuals and experience of
community beyond a loss of industry and economic stability. These Detroit’s residents
spaces are often experiencing different types of decay, one that
occurs naturally over time, and one that occurs because of vandalism, theft, and other human
intervention. Considering the social inequalities that produce differing levels of urban decay in
different parts of the city leads to important questions of how ruins are treated, and what value—if
any—is placed upon them. Is crumbling architecture in Detroit considered valuable and worth
saving, or does it amount to little more than blight? More importantly, what are the opinions and
experiences of Detroit’s residents who continue to live amongst this decaying landscape? While
urban ruins provide subjects for artistic creation and consumption, outside of this mediated
perspective they in uence the lived experience of Detroit’s residents. As Detroit’s landscape
becomes further changed by decay and demolition, the city faces an increasing number of social
detriments that both contribute to, and result from, urban ruination.

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As one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America, the city limits of Detroit cover a large
geographic area. As buildings and businesses are razed, neighborhoods are left entirely vacant,
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resulting in what are considered “urban meadows.” Fein, Zach. 2006-2012. The Abandoned City of
Detroit.
http://zfein.com/photography/detroit/air_dead/index.html(http://zfein.com/photography/detroit/air_dead/index.html).
Zach Fein’s The Abandoned City of Detroit (2006-2012) includes a collection of these urban
meadows, providing images which are eerily apocalyptic. They not only exemplify the decay of the
urban environment, they signify a tremendous loss of population and the complications of urban
decay for residents who continue to live in the city. These large rural spaces within an urban
environment interfere with our ideals of a city. Furthermore, they present daily challenges as
neighbourhoods are sectored and broken up, leaving pockets of inhabited areas surrounded by a
random network of rural property. Not only does this spatially divide and distance many residents
from necessary services such as transit, streetlights and emergency services, but it also exempli es
the continuation of inequalities of race and class. Areas of the city that have seen some level of
restoration—notably the downtown core—stand in stark contrast to outlying areas inhabited by
lower income and minority populations.

Valuation & Treatment of Ruins

The work of Gaston Gordillo provides a unique perspective on the treatment and value placed upon
ruins. His work points to a cultural distinction made between objects and landscapes that could be
considered “ruins,” and those that are considered “rubble.” While this distinction presents two
obvious categories his assessment of how value is placed upon these sites, by whom, and the
treatment of these spaces is more important to consider than categorization. Gordillo states that
distinguishing ruins and rubble will “help us understand the ruptured multiplicity that is constitutive
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of all geographies as they are produced, destroyed, and remade…” Gordillo, Gaston. 2014. Rubble:
The Afterlife of Destruction. Duke University Press: 2. It is certainly arguable that much of Detroit’s
urban decay could be considered rubble due to its lack of maintenance and general protection. But if
we consider these spaces ruins, they become the spaces and objects that signify a past civilization.
This presents an even more interesting consideration between Detroit’s structural ruins, and the
vacant remains of neighbourhoods that result in urban meadows. What value is placed upon these
different sites? Judging by the speed of residential razing in comparison to industrial sites, a clear
inequality once again presents itself through these media. Creators who focus on urban ruins play a
key role in recording these differences; their works provide an archive of geography and urbanism as
much as they do an archive of social and structural inequalities as they are evidenced by urban
growth or decay. While the creation of ruin-porn undoubtedly serves to reinforce certain cultural
narratives, it is also part of a broader cultural archive. The distinction made by Gordillo is not based
on what the object is, but rather who the object has meaning to in relation to a broader cultural
ideology or social hierarchy. When we consider Detroit’s ruin-porn, there is an obvious and clear
difference between the current state of buildings owned by industry and government, and those
once owned by private individuals. Gordillo’s distinction between cultural valuation of ruins and
rubble provides an incentive to question how affective these spaces are to those still living in
Detroit. What do urban ruins signify for the local population, and more importantly, how do divisions
of class and race implicate the treatment of these spaces?

George Steinmetz presents a comparative analysis of ruingazers in Detroit and Namibia, addressing
the predominantly White narratives which result from ruin-gazing and media production. As his
work points to, the context of ruination is crucial to providing any accuracy to the narratives of
contemporary cities, and to the ruins themselves, or the social order they represent through media

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production. He states, “the comparison between a post-colonial African country and post-industrial
North American city is intended to compare and contrast the emotional posture of previously
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dominant white groups and the symbolic role that ruins come to play for them.” Steinmetz, George.
“Harrowed Landscapes: white ruingazers in Namibia and Detroit and the cultivation of memory.”
Visual Studies 23.3 (2008): 221. Steinmetz provides a perspective on this history as being fueled by
majority White individuals and industry, who, at one time or another, largely represented the city in
social or political discourse. The treatment of urban ruins in Detroit is not unlike the treatment of
ruins in any other time or place and the meaning and attachment placed upon these objects and
spaces differ by race and class. This racialization plays a key role in Detroit’s eventual decline and in
the response of local governments and individuals to urban decay. Redevelopment, restoration or
razing of urban environments considered marred by ruins, decisions largely in the hands of local
governments and industry, lead to new questions of gentri cation, racialization, and perpetuation of
inequalities. Media which focuses on Detroit’s ruination provide strong examples of the differing
treatment of urban ruins in Detroit as they relate not only to geography, but also race and class.

Photography & The Apocalyptic Imagination

As buildings and infrastructure become the primary focus for the

The entirety of the creators of ruin-porn, we risk overlooking important social
city’s narratives and questions regarding the creation and ruination of these spaces. The
the basis of such relationship between individuals and place so important to cultural
widespread urban experience or the cause and effect relationship between
decay cannot be socioeconomic conditions and urbanism often goes unnoticed. As
accurately depicted Frederic Jameson states, “the supreme raw materials of the work of
through static art becomes limited to a tiny corner of the social world, a xed
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images because the camera view of a certain section…” Jameson, Frederic. 1988.
photograph records “Cognitive Mapping.” Eds. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg.
diverse Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. U. of Illinois: 348. While
temporalities and Jameson is speaking of London, the production and consumption of
flattens them into a ruin-porn employing Detroit as its subject provide an
single image overwhelmingly xed-view of a dynamic city. This sentiment is
picked up by Arnold, who in following the insights of Barthes
(1981) and Sontag (1977) argues that photography produces a static image which can only represent
a static narrative, a certain moment in time inscribed and historicized through aesthetics and
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representation. Arnold, Sarah. “Urban Decay Photography and Film: Fetishism and the Apocalyptic
Imagination.” Journal of Urban History 41.2 (2015): 329. As many scholars point out Detroit is not an
apocalyptic site, nor is it a place which experienced a sudden abrupt event of urban destruction but it
is often represented as such. The entirety of the city’s narratives and the basis of such widespread
urban decay cannot be accurately depicted through static images because the photograph records
diverse temporalities and attens them into a single image—it covers over their complex histories
and presents them as occurring all at once. The city of Detroit neither develops nor decays in an
instant, as the photograph might suggest.

Attempts at aestheticizing the urban through photography often produce images that may align to
Arnold’s notion of “the apocalyptic imagination”: “The apocalyptic imagination is concerned with
aestheticizing and romanticizing the impression of disaster and sudden ruination…Obsolete and
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disused objects become fetishized and instilled with a tragic beauty.” Ibid., 334. Urban ruins signify
changing social conditions, whether it be a loss of economic prosperity, an abrupt end to a thriving
social environment, or the death of entire urbanized communities. On the other hand, the functional,

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mechanical and digital elements of contemporary photography allow for images and narratives that
exist far beyond a traditional photo, as “techniques such as HDR enhance the atmosphere of
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ruination.” Ibid., 335. This technological mediation often produces an image which is beyond the
actual experience of physically existing in these spaces. While the ruins may appear in spectacular
fashion due to technological advancement, they also suggest that urban decay should be open to
photographers or lmmakers as something unwanted by others, ready to be captured, historicized,
and grounded. The fantastic nature of these images serves to distance viewers of contemporary
urban ruins from the experience of existing amongst them. The pseudo-apocalyptic images that exist
in urban ruin photography collections provide content which is powerful, yet has little context
beyond decay. Ruin-porn photography is generally unable to encapsulate the entirety of the
narrative, and often disregards any sort of existing society in its representation. The capture of
urban ruins in Detroit does little to inform those outside the city to the realities of everyday life
within, but it does play a role in terms of reinforcing a narrative of decay, despair, and an abrupt end
to a once-thriving urban community.

Detroit’s aesthetic representation often suggests an emptiness, a lack of social action, a lack of
community, and a lack of life. As Arnold points out, “such photography has the potential to x the
identity of a place in a certain moment…simply through the overrepresentation of a particular
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context.” Ibid., 328. Images of empty lots, burned buildings, and dilapidated homes point towards a
lack of inhabitants and a mass exodus of residents. Images of abandoned factories and industrial
spaces evoke similar notions of stillness, inactivity, and a loss of economy. Combined, these images
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evoke a sense of doom, death, and even apocalypse. Ibid., 333. Of course, Detroit is not a dead city.
This xed-view of a now decaying urban landscape once booming with social and economic activity
contributes to ideas of a city in ruins, and the continued creation of ruin-porn employing Detroit as a
subject provides the overrepresentation. As ruin-porn focused on Detroit becomes more widely
disseminated, Detroit’s perceived identity as a city in decay becomes more crucial than ever. The
decay evident throughout the city is notably found in areas inhabited by racialized populations and
residents of lower socioeconomic status. The initial planning that underpins the contemporary
urban environment does not in any way equate to, or guarantee social cohesion, durability or
equality; the same can be said of contemporary attempts to revitalize the city or manage the decay.
As Detroit begins a process of restoration and recon guration, many of the programs implemented
overlook the most affected areas with the most vulnerable populations, and instead focus on areas
like the downtown core which are more likely inhabited by upper-class, white populations and by
industry. While the cycle of ruination evident throughout Detroit is in many ways fascinating to
observe, it becomes largely fetishized and aestheticized through urban exploration rather than
questioned for its social and cultural basis. This does little to inform observers to the causes of
Detroit’s urban decay, or how a focus on urban decay in the city continues to in uence the everyday
lives of its citizens.

One example of a photographic narrative which supports this type of apocalyptic representation is
Detroiturbex: Now and Then(http://www.detroiturbex.com/content/ba/index.html). This collection
comprises composite images of two distinct time periods within the same space, producing images
that capture differing states of decay and restoration. These photographs do more than simply
superimpose a past grandeur onto a present object. They capture both the decay of urban space and
the decay of the social, and in some instances, the reclamation and restoration of certain spaces. The
dialectic between a once booming metropolis and a now decaying urban environment is
exceptionally showcased in this collection. These images “are charged with nostalgia and instilled
with a sense of the spectral;” they indicate a sense of loss, not just of urban space and structure, but
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of social cohesion, vitality, and optimism. Ibid., 327.  They also support the apocalyptic narrative of

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sudden, abrupt ruination by contrasting two distinct periods and states side-by-side, or in this case
as a composite. Interestingly, one aspect of this collection inverts the timeline of this representation,
and provides images of urban ruins which are now restored or undergoing restoration contrasted
against these same spaces in a prior state of ruination. These images evoke a sense of rebirth and a
return of a once thriving social and cultural community. Regardless of the digital enhancements
necessary to create these images, they present a stark dualism of a real place compressed into a
comparison between two distinct and discrete moments in time. As Arnold states, “The photograph
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does not represent the past, rather it discursively produces it.” Ibid., 329. With respect to Now &
Then, we are immediately confronted by images that not only display urban ruins in contemporary
time, but signify their past state of grandeur. We are immediately confronted by the overwhelming
social and cultural loss that has occurred alongside urban decay with respect to photos of
abandoned neighbourhoods and empty schools. While these images undoubtedly contribute to
narratives about the death of Detroit, they also serve an important role as cultural artifact and
contribute to a broader discourse about how Detroit will evolve moving forward.

Film & Narrative

Fiore DeRosa and Jen Senko’s The Vanishing City (http://www.thevanishingcity.com)draws attention to

the shifting nature of contemporary cities, pointing out that the ever-changing urban environment is
also an ever-changing social environment. Like New York and the issues explored in this lm, the
issues faced by contemporary Detroit are the product of diverse histories that continue to provide
in uence. This lm is less about the creation of ruin-porn and serves a more typical documentary
purpose, but urban ruins and a strong focus on comparisons between historical booms and
contemporary conditions in the city make it worth consideration with respect to Detroit’s changing
social environment. Like New York, Detroit nds itself the product of a complex social history,
marred by racialization, and the consequences of industry; the contemporary ruins sought after by
the producers and consumers of ruin-porn are the very objects of past achievement and
contemporary collapse that signify the death of a city. The representation of urban ruins in many
cases appears as a simple by-product of growth and decay in the urban environment as a seemingly
natural process. However, this ignores the treatment of these spaces in historical and present time,
and it overlooks questions of how and why these structures have come to exist in their present state,
what should be done about them, and how this reinforces or results from social inequalities. Film
therefore provides a way to combine the aesthetics of ruin-porn with the cultural experiences of
urban decay as told by residents.

Detropia (2012)(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125490) is not a lm entirely based around the

presentation of ruins as art, although its creators are undoubtedly contributing to fetishism of urban
ruins through their own work. As Arnold suggests, “[I]f the image of decay comes to take a rm root
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in the public imagination, then as Sontag suggests this is to be complicit in its misfortune.” Ibid.,
337. While Detropia takes steps to include the narrative of residents and their experiences in the
city, it also presents the undeniable dualism of a city once booming, and now in decline, or at best,
beginning to see a gradual rebirth. In this sense, it reinforces narratives of despair and desolation. A
focus on urban ruins and abandonment seen in this lm invoke a sense of doom as the social and
economic issues faced by Detroit are explored through urban exploration and interaction with
residents. It becomes increasingly clear through a lm like Detropia that Detroit’s urban decay
should not be thought of in the way one might consider a “natural” ruin. This ruination is a product of
social and economic in uence that continues to in uence everyday life for citizens and their
attempts to manage the city’s decay. First-person interviews extend the ability of this lm beyond
that of much ruin-porn, exemplifying the social realities of urban decay as told by Detroit’s residents.

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It seems as if the residents who live amongst this landscape in some ways have accepted the idea
that Detroit is broken, or at least that Detroit is not going to return to its historical state. The
lmmakers, by contrast, attempt to provide an optimistic tone about Detroit’s future as supported
by the efforts of local governments and community initiatives. One of the more interesting examples
of art acting in response to urban decay is the Heidelberg Project, a featured part of this lm. Again,
positionality of residents and urban explorers becomes a key factor to consider with these types of
revitalization projects and their broader acceptance. The ruination and blight that present
themselves as subjects for photography, lm and urban art installations are in part the lived
experience of residents within Detroit, something not always shared by producers and consumers of
ruin-porn. The medium of lm does seem to hold an advantage in terms of exploring the underlying
causes of urban decay and ruination as these two lms provide evidence of. Not only can the urban
landscape be explored and documented, but important social and cultural questions can be
addressed as part of the overall presentation. While Detropia does aim to subvert cultural
assumptions of a dead Detroit, it remains a contributor to a broader cultural narrative which in many
ways ignores the possibility of Detroit’s resurrection beyond the in uence of art.

Conclusion

Numerous factors have contributed to dramatic changes in

Detroit’s urban environment; the city as represented by ruin-porn Detroit is not solely
largely portrays an environment of decay, blight, and emptiness. a site of loss and
The ongoing change of Detroit’s landscape is implicated by a decay, it also exists
convergent set of issues, including social and political in uences as a space in which
rooted in class inequality and racialization, largely supported by the to reimagine and
actions of industry and government. The incredible complexity of reconfigure the
Detroit’s growth and regression which has contributed to its social, political, and
current state cannot be effectively represented through ruin-porn economic needs of a
any more than through a written paper. While urban ruin complex,
photography captures an aesthetic element of contemporary contemporary city
experience in Detroit, it overly exposes places and objects in decay.
The City of Detroit has undergone dramatic shifts throughout its history, and this continues today.
Detroit is not solely a site of loss and decay, it also exists as a space in which to reimagine and
recon gure the social, political, and economic needs of a complex, contemporary city. The collapse of
Detroit does provide the opportunity to reimagine what a contemporary, post-industrial North
American city can be.

While Detroit has arguably been the hardest hit city in North America by the 2008 recession, it is far
from being the only example. The key difference, which has intrigued urban explorers, lies in the
enormity of the decay that has occurred in a city once occupied by millions. Attention should be
brought to an urban environment like Detroit, not to stigmatize or extend judgements on its
governments, industries, or residents, but instead to record this process of social and spatial
recon guration. Urban photography and lm are important resources that can not only produce
aesthetic and apocalyptic imagery but can serve a benevolent cause of restoring and reimagining
contemporary Detroit, or bringing attention to the underlying causes of urban decay. As the number
of buildings and spaces which are either abandoned, condemned or scheduled for razing increases,
so too do the number of buildings and spaces being reclaimed, restored, or repurposed by the
citizens of Detroit. There are ethical considerations to all aspects of the cycle of ruination and
restoration, but Detroit stands as a strong example of a cultural ability to exist and prosper despite
the precarious nature of contemporary cities, complex social hierarchies, and the ever-changing

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spatial arrangements of urban environments, including those in uenced by processes of decay,

demolition, ruination and reimagination.

Notes
1. ↑ Arnold, Sarah. 2015. “Urban Decay Photography and Film: Fetishism and the Apocalyptic Imagination.”
Journal of Urban History (SAGE Publications) 41 (2): 335.
2. ↑ McDonald, John F. 2014. “What happened to and in Detroit?” Urban Studies (SAGE Publications) 51 (16):
3310.
3. ↑ Ibid., 3324-5.
4. ↑ Steinmetz, George. “Harrowed Landscapes: white ruingazers in Namibia and Detroit and the cultivation of
memory.” Visual Studies 23.3 (2008): 229.
5. ↑ McDonald, “What happened to and in Detroit?”, 3320.
6. ↑ Fein, Zach. 2006-2012. The Abandoned City of Detroit.
http://zfein.com/photography/detroit/air_dead/index.html(http://zfein.com/photography/detroit/air_dead/index.htm
7. ↑ Gordillo, Gaston. 2014. Rubble: The Afterlife of Destruction. Duke University Press: 2.
8. ↑ Steinmetz, George. “Harrowed Landscapes: white ruingazers in Namibia and Detroit and the cultivation of
memory.” Visual Studies 23.3 (2008): 221.
9. ↑ Jameson, Frederic. 1988. “Cognitive Mapping.” Eds. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg. Marxism and th
Interpretation of Culture. U. of Illinois: 348.
10. ↑ Arnold, Sarah. “Urban Decay Photography and Film: Fetishism and the Apocalyptic Imagination.” Journal of
Urban History 41.2 (2015): 329.
11. ↑ Ibid., 334.
12. ↑ Ibid., 335.
13. ↑ Ibid., 328.
14. ↑ Ibid., 333.
15. ↑ Ibid., 327.
16. ↑ Ibid., 329.
17. ↑ Ibid., 337.

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