Urban exploration/ ruin tourism

Hello,

I am a documentary student working on my thesis film about urban exploration tourism in Detroit and its impact on the city. I have seen threads on this forum about some of the for-pay tours that are given in the abandoned buildings throughout the city. I was wondering what your opinions were of these "ruin tours" and how they could affect Detroit, either positively or negatively.

Feel free to discuss below or message me privately if you'd like to share your thoughts. Thank you!

For reference: http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...bex-tours!-Yay!

You know there has been an escalation of people getting shot who have illegally forcefully entered peoples property lately.

Maybe you should get a new hobby?

There is little difference between the fascination of ancient ruins and modern ruins. They are awe-inspiring and pose great questions. How could this happen? Rome and Athens make billions from their ruins. No one should be surprised that entrepreneurs here wouldn't try the same. The city and metro have tried to sweep our ruins under a carpet of denial and blame. Accept them, learn from them and deal with them.

I believe that "urban explorers" or tourists are trespassing and should be arrested or, at least, issued citations.

The difference between Rome and here is that the tourism is sanctioned by Rome and those ruins are public property, almost like museums. While many of the "ruin" owners here in Detroit are speculators or slumlords, it is still their private property and they have the right to exclude people.

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Originally Posted by Lowell

There is little difference between the fascination of ancient ruins and modern ruins. They are awe-inspiring and pose great questions. How could this happen? Rome and Athens make billions from their ruins. No one should be surprised that entrepreneurs here wouldn't try the same. The city and metro have tried to sweep our ruins under a carpet of denial and blame. Accept them, learn from them and deal with them.

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Fine. Just don't scrap them, burn them, spray paint them, then leave them standing for the next 30 years, to destroy the neighborhoods around them and leave the neighbors having to deal with them.

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Originally Posted by Lowell

There is little difference between the fascination of ancient ruins and modern ruins. They are awe-inspiring and pose great questions. How could this happen? Rome and Athens make billions from their ruins. No one should be surprised that entrepreneurs here wouldn't try the same. The city and metro have tried to sweep our ruins under a carpet of denial and blame. Accept them, learn from them and deal with them.

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I'd be a lot happier if all the ruins in Detroit were reused as what they were intended for, as residences and businesses. If that ever happens [[not very likely) perhaps the suburbs could host a few ruins for people to photograph and tag. That would probably keep most of the ruin porn/urbex people closer to home, instead of venturing into Detroit to do their "work".

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Originally Posted by townonenorth

I'd be a lot happier if all the ruins in Detroit were reused as what they were intended for, as residences and businesses. If that ever happens [[not very likely) perhaps the suburbs could host a few ruins for people to photograph and tag. That would probably keep most of the ruin porn/urbex people closer to home, instead of venturing into Detroit to do their "work".

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There are a lot more abandoned buildings in the burbs than you think. This is especially true and can be found in the manufacturing spines along railroads.

In addition, with Detroit stealing jobs from the suburbs there are a lot of empty office space in the burbs. I say steal because these jobs may be new to Detroit, they are not new to the overall economy.

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Originally Posted by townonenorth

I'd be a lot happier if all the ruins in Detroit were reused as what they were intended for, as residences and businesses. If that ever happens [[not very likely) perhaps the suburbs could host a few ruins for people to photograph and tag. That would probably keep most of the ruin porn/urbex people closer to home, instead of venturing into Detroit to do their "work".

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Suburbs could do that with Bloomfield Park - it would be perfect.

They could turn Bloomfield Park into a Laser/Tagger park named "Greed". How cool would THAT be? Or maybe a "Packard Plant" theme park? You know with phony billowing smoke and sparks, like guys using cutting torches, and piped in sound effects? They could sell t-shirts that said " MADE IN PACKARD PLANT ".

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Fine. Just don't scrap them, burn them, spray paint them, then leave them standing for the next 30 years, to destroy the neighborhoods around them and leave the neighbors having to deal with them.

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The ruins of antiquity were indeed scrapped, burned, painted, vandalized and left standing for the next 3,000 years, and only was it until much much later, say, like 200 years ago, that people started to appreciate them and act to preserve them.

Here's one example, from a review of In Ruins, by Christopher Woodward:

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Built around A.D. 80, a grand oval arena for gladiatorial contests and feeding Christians to lions, the Colosseum had survived time and Visigoths but succumbed to slow attrition during the later Christian Era, when various popes leased it as a stone quarry for their construction projects. Workers burned its marble to make lime for use in mortar; beggars took shelter under its arches, and successive earthquakes toppled it further. By the time Charles Dickens saw it in the 1840's, he could perceive its ''awful beauty'' and desolation as a ''softened sorrow,'' representing ''the ghost of old Rome, wicked wonderful old city, haunting the very ground on which its people trod.''
In 1779, William Beckford, a sybaritic Englishman, was disgusted to find it colonized by monks praying the Stations of the Cross, and noted wistfully that they were fat enough to make a lion's mouth water. ....15th-century poetry by the man who would later become Pope Pius II. ''Oh Rome! Your very ruins are a joy,'' he wrote. As pontiff, he tried to outlaw marble burning and scavenging, but to little lasting effect.

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Sounds exactly like what is happening today.

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

There are a lot more abandoned buildings in the burbs than you think. This is especially true and can be found in the manufacturing spines along railroads.

In addition, with Detroit stealing jobs from the suburbs there are a lot of empty office space in the burbs. I say steal because these jobs may be new to Detroit, they are not new to the overall economy.

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Darn tootin' there are. Just check out what used to be Ford Country downriver and that direction all the way to the Ohio Border.
Massive hulks of rusting, idle, manufacturing and support buildings

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Originally Posted by Eber Brock Ward

I believe that "urban explorers" or tourists are trespassing and should be arrested or, at least, issued citations.

The difference between Rome and here is that the tourism is sanctioned by Rome and those ruins are public property, almost like museums. While many of the "ruin" owners here in Detroit are speculators or slumlords, it is still their private property and they have the right to exclude people.

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It is illegal, but the enforcement of people walking onto abandoned and open property is practically that of public easements. I'd say the majority of abandoned structures that are not secured [[open doors with holes in the roof) fail to comply with local laws for maintaining the property that at least send a message to stay out. Actually, most tourists will show up after the scrappers and vandals have had their way. I think it's important people not lose focus on the bigger issue. It's a two way street when it comes to responsible and lawful behavior. The majority of the public probably doesn't care about photographers entering abandoned buildings. The majority of city residents probably do care and that's why this debate exists on this website.