Option G - Detroit (Urban deindustralization)

1960

Detroit has the highest per-capita income in USA

Now … of the city has been taken over by nature

1/4

How many buildings and parcels are abandoned

40 000

Property prices has fallen …. % or more

80

Detroit is the largest US city to declare…

bankruptcy

The city’s long-term debts are estimated to be $… or $ …. per resident

18 billion, 27 000

1900-1950

City prospered because General Motors GM (Ford etc.) were based there

Population in 1900

300 000

Population in 1950

1.8 million

population 2013

700 000

No more than high school diplome (%)

80

Cause of Detroit’s troubles:

• falling car sales - less tax revenue from the city’s largest firms

• shrinking population

• high pension costs (aging pop)

What was the result of inequalities of work and housing conditions between white people and black people and when?

race riots in 1943 and 1967

1950s 1960s 1970s

wight flights - white people leaving the city

Only … % of the jobs available are taken by the residents

30

…. % of the working residents work outside Detroit

60

Unemployment reached ….% by ….

30 % 2013

…. of Detroit’s residents leave below the poverty line

1/3

2009

29 schools closed down

How much of the city’s population is illiterate

half

How much of the city’s population is Afro-American

81.6

How many city street lights (total)

85 000

how much of the lights function and why?

50 %, thieves stripe them from copper

How much of the ambulances are in working order?

1/3

Positive changes

• Urban farms appear

• Artist come to do art in abandoned spots

• low rents, good universities - attempt to attract business