Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre Photography - The Ruins of Detroit
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the city of Detroit developed rapidly thanks to the automobile industry. Until the 50's, its population rose to almost 2 million people. Detroit was the 4th most important city in the United States. It was the dazzling symbol of the American Dream City with its monumental skyscrapers and fancy neighborhoods. Increasing segregation and deindustrialization caused violent riots in 1967. The white middle-class exodus from the city accelerated and the suburbs grew. Firms and factories began to close or move to lower-wage states. Slowly, but inexorably downtown high-rise buildings emptied. Since the 50's, "Motor City" lost more than half of its population.
White Flight, driven by racism, was enabled by the transportation network which allowed the city government to deal with the influx by not dealing with it, slowly reduced the tax base providing the money to do with it, and eventually the city reached a tipping point and over it went.
