Detroit and its legacy

October 27th, 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36000556@N02/3902376964

Detroit Motorcity Capital of the world. I went looking for Detroit because of a story about a company called Local Motors

John “Jay” Burton is the co-founder of Local Motors, and I am particularly interested in his personal motivation and life experience to start Local Motors. Jay was a Marine for 9 years, and in that time he became acutely aware of the high dependence countries like the US had on foreign oil, ‘we slept with the devil like a common whore lusting for oil’ contextualises Noam Chomsky. Jay references also the human tragedy closer to home as car manufacturing cities like Detroit and Flint Michigan collapsed becoming in their own ways Chernobyl’s of the US, lost and forgotten in changing world economy still built upon the crack cocaine of what is called black gold. Now Detroit sits on the verge of bankruptcy, beset by political scandal, a declining population, troubled industry, high crime and unemployment rates and one of the worst school systems in the country. Jays vision to take a networked and community approach to design, manufacture and engineering, which is inclusive of the people that ultimately buy LM cars. LM is not the panacea, but they present an alternative perspective on manufacturing, well being, and commerce.

Change.org writes

You may have heard by now of the crush of Detroiters who descended on Cobo Hall this week to apply for homelessness prevention assistance. 50,000 – 60,000 residents have received applications for 3,400 packages of up to $3,000 to cover utility bills and fees associated with keeping one’s home or moving into a new one.

But seriously: I know no flood waters have ravaged Detroit, nor have unseasonal weather conditions killed anticipated crop loads, but how can we not classify Detroit’s 30% unemployment, 30% poverty rate, and upwards of 80,000 vacant homes as a national disaster?

And General Motors gets $50bn as a bailout

And the Daily Kos contributes

Michigan, as most know, leads the country in unemployment levels. Across the state, 15.2% of Michiganders are without jobs. In Detroit, it’s even more dire with 27.8%. When those who have given up are included, the number is well over 1 in 3.

Over one-third of the people in Detroit live below the federal poverty level.

“It’s probably the worst hunger crisis we’ve seen in our history,” said Anne Schenk, spokeswoman for Detroit’s Gleaners Community Food Bank, the state’s largest food bank, serving five counties in southeast Michigan.

Rush Limbaugh, takes the opportunity for some Obama bashing like the good Republican he is (read the Daily Kos post), without in fact using his brain to proffer up any sensible solution to a crisis that had beset Detroit decades ago.

No new employees have walked thru this door since 1956 ( New Employees Entrance - Abandoned Packard Plant-Detroit ) by Derek Farr ( DetroitDerek ). EXPLORED! The Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit was designed by Albert Kahn, and included the first use of reinforced concrete for industrial construction in Detroit. When opened in 1907, it was considered the most modern automobile manufacturing facility in the world. The plant closed in 1957 ( although parts of it are still rented out ). The plant complex covers 35 acres ( 3.5 Million Square feet ) .

So the question is can the same means of production, supply and demand, industrial age thinking and doing pull Detroit out of its tailspin? In the book I have been writing No Straight Lines, my argument is no, and that we need a networked approach to urban regeneration which is not about the knowledge economy but taking a systems and networked approach to industry, economics and how we re-engage people in meaningful employment. I can understand the need to keep people in jobs (Vauxhall motors in the UK or GM’s bailout), but there must be huge pressure now applied to industry to rethink how it goes about doing what it does, this is more than a few cars that run on hybrid engines. My advice to Lord Mandelson is to get someone to study the different ways in which we can accelerate innovation whilst at the same time changing the economic model for supply and demand.

As Jay from Local Motors says,’if you tool big, you can’t be flexible’. And sadly the people from Detroit paid the price, as the world moved on.