Should we reconnect with our French History and become the Paris of North America?

[Newdetroit]

Detroit was once dubbed the Paris of North American in 1930. Should we not try to reclaim this title in 2030? If you were to ask people all over the world, what is your most preferred city, surely Paris would make the list. Why? To begin, Paris has beautiful architecture, boulevards, cultural attractions, and so forth. Let's face it, French culture sells. So why should we not market it to our advantage? New Orleans is a case in point...imagine what New Orleans would be without its French Quarter and French cultural heritage?

Detroit would not be refabricating history or pretending to be of French heritage either. Our city was founded by a Frenchman and the radiating boulevards from Campus Martius illustrate the original French design. We have started La March de Nain Rouge. The DIA is beax-arts in architecture.

So, what do people think about creating an urban plan for Detroit that is European [[or Parisian) in style and not American. We can make Detroit the most unique American city. Specifically, roundabouts, fountains, statutues, plazas, lined trees, cobble-stone streets, and a UNIFORM ARCHITECTURE of apartments and condos that look European. Instead of going to Paris, people can visit Detroit? Any thoughts?????

[gnome]

first, the paris of the Midwest thing was from the 1890's and is not a well-known moniker except for a the few detroitophiles that tread this earth. Not that being the Paris of Midwest isn't a fine goal, it just isn't an attainable goal.

Monikers don't come top-down, but rather bottom up; hence any moniker you conjure, the people will decide on its truthiness.

Instead of building roundabouts and fountains, I would guess that most folks would rather have the police show up when they need them. The fountain idea is just dandy, in fact there is a lovely one up in Palmer Park that might need a bit of buffing, start with that and report back.

[blackmath]

Well........ New Orleans never had a fire that burned down all of its colonial buildings for one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the attitude at the time immediately following the American capture of the city to get away from French roots and go towards a more English model, with the street grids and architecture?

Also, while I think the thought is a noble one, if people want Paris, they will go to Paris. The wholesale destruction of older architecture and history seems to be something that most industrial cities have faced. Why is this? I have absolutely no idea, and perhaps the people on this board who are much more well versed in the field of architecture and the history of it can give their take on that.

Detroit has it's own amazing culture without having to lean on French culture. We have our own art, music, literature and theater, but just as Paris was the great art incubator of the past 300 years, Detroit was the great industrial incubator, and I think sometimes we are too quick to scoff at that tradition. To me it is something to be proud of.

Also, Paris and other great European cities look the way they do because they are so very old. I don't think people appreciate fabricated character as we would have if we started building a modern European-esque city. Also, building something like what you are proposing would take generations and a multi-generational commitment to architectural uniformity. Since when do politicians agree on anything for very long?

Rome or Paris or even Detroit wasn't built in a day

[lilpup]

The big factor that earned Detroit the Paris-like moniker was the city's wide boulevards. A few are still in place.

I've thought a more apt model to look to for inspiration is Montreal rather than any Old World or Anglo rooted US city.

[Lowell]

I have to agree with the sentiments above. We need to be ourselves, warts and all. I like a quote I heard recently, "Be yourself, everybody else is taken." To name ourselves after another and fabulous city just opens us to wannabee derision.

There is no French community in any real sense, just names of streets and surnames like mine, Boileau, and like most Detroiters with French names I speak very little French and have no identity with the 'home' country.

New Orleans by contrast has a full blown French-speaking Cajun community and culture surrounding it.

For rebranding purposes I think we have an opportunity to play up our international border cities status or as I like to call us, "World's Greatest International Metropolis". Sadly our pointless and increasingly restrictive border is working against that opportunity.

[sumas]

It is sad that our restrictive border rules inhibit free passage. We were frequent visitors to Windsor, often taking out of town guests. I dislike the fact that while Windsor/Canada welcomes us, I can't return to my native country without a passport. Which is ludicrous really

Also from 1922 to 1930, Edward Gray touted his waterfront community Grayhaven, as the "Venice of the Midwest".

[Newdetroit]

My main goal in posting this was to see what people's thoughts were regarding architecture and urban planning in addition to rebolstering our French heritage. I think that Detroit does indeed have great architecture and history. I, in no way, mean that we should copy another city. But I can't help but feel that Detroit could incoroporate urban planning from European models. Case in point: architectural uniformity, cobble stoned streets, tree-lined avenues, fountains, roundabouts, plazas, and statues. This does not erase Detroit and its history, but rather give it a pleasant urban setting. Imagine if Midtown made some of these changes?? Imagine Woodward with lined trees, fountains in the median, statues throughout Midtown, and Masonic temple's park turned into a plaza. Put in cobble stoned streets throughout Midtown [[Wodward, Warren, Mack, John R, Brush Street, St. Antoine, and First-Third), Midtown could really look unique. Also imagine streets with a uniform architectural style as opposed to a collage of mix and match buildings. I know, alot of people will say that it is preferable to have a different array of architecture. I personally prefer areas to have architecture which complements buildings with one another. At any rate, a European feeling in Midtown in my mind would give Midtown a desired urban setting. And if we could find a philanthropist to fund a 500 foot Spirit of Detroit statue in the middle of a roundabout with fountains around it and an observatory deck on top,why not?..

[gnome]

ND, I was going to ask if you were dropped on your head as a child, however, I after thinking about it, I'll have to revise that and ask how many times you were dropped.

[LodgeDodger]

I have to agree with the sentiments above. We need to be ourselves, warts and all. I like a quote I heard recently, "Be yourself, everybody else is taken." To name ourselves after another and fabulous city just opens us to wannabee derision.

There is no French community in any real sense, just names of streets and surnames like mine, Boileau, and like most Detroiters with French names I speak very little French and have no identity with the 'home' country.

New Orleans by contrast has a full blown French-speaking Cajun community and culture surrounding it.

For rebranding purposes I think we have an opportunity to play up our international border cities status or as I like to call us, "World's Greatest International Metropolis". Sadly our pointless and increasingly restrictive border is working against that opportunity.

Lowell, give it up already!

[DetroitPlanner]

France does not have a uniform form of architecture. New stuff there is not built to look old.

Detroit's boulevards were designed after the pattern found in Washington DC. Therefore maybe we should restrict the height of Detroit's buildings and rip down everything taller that ten stories like the have in DC?

I don't want to turn Detroit into anymore of a Disneyland than it already is. We need need to have our own identity. Granted our current identity as an old worn out industrial town is not great but it does reflect what we are.

[Hermod]

Detroit, the Kinshasa of North America.

[Carey]

Detroit's evolution was an organic one that was based on a process that halted about 50 years ago -- growth. Bing, for all his faults, is the first mayor who has acknowledged the city needs to plan for further shrinking. I agree with gnome, who said most Detroiters just want a cop to show up when needed. The News reports today the fire commissioner admitted to city council yesterday that EMS is on the verge of collapse. Detroit's challenge, and it is a huge one, is to make the city livable and safe with the dwindling amount of revenue available while hoping some of that old growth magic can re-emerge.

[GOAT]

Well played Hermod. I have had visitors who watched the Detroit news over a few days span and couldn't believe all the crap that happens "in a city in the USA".

[dtowncitylover]

In my younger days on DYes, I touted the idea of having a Quartier Latin like New Orleans. And in usual DYes fashion, was mocked.

As a Francophile and French major, I cannot say that Detroit needs to be the Paris of the Midwest. Yes, nice trees along our wide boulevards would look nice. But can't we start with our own identity rather than another city's?

Newdetroit, you sound like me when I first started here. Then I grew up.

[canuck]

I think Detroit needs extensive study by the best urban planning firms in the world because of its size and importance, and because the transit infrastructure needed to make it bloom is massive.

Regional cohesion is the element that will make it happen. The process for development should involve severe limitations on new construction, thereby favoring rehabilitation of all significant buildings in the city.

Measures to protect vacant schools, and other state owned buildings should be guaranteed etc...

The downtown needs to favor street access to pedestrians and anything that can promote small to medium sized businesses to set up in the core. This will help tourism, attract regional commuters who work in Detroit or come to play.

The demand for housing will come about from a new interest in downtown which already exists but is fragile. People who buy a condo in downtown need access to supermarkets and shops and until they can avoid transit to suburban shops, the problem of value for money will remain.

Detroit's region is rich enough to support this overhaul. The area's gross domestic product is very strong and therefore the haves should spread the wealth, and who knows, they may be surprised at the return on investment.

Detroiters need to say NO to commercial, residential and industrial developments and concepts that repeat the errors of the past in spite of a hunger for jobs.

[dtowncitylover]

There is no French community in any real sense, just names of streets and surnames like mine, Boileau, and like most Detroiters with French names I speak very little French and have no identity with the 'home' country.

There is no French community in Detroit, yes. But the French community in Essex County is still going strong. Communities like Lakeshore, St. Joachim, Belle River, River Canard, LaSalle, and Windsor proper have sizeable French-Canadian minorities or total majorities. Most of these are the descendants from the days of Cadillac and after.

I remember reading the last French speaker this side of the river, died in Monroe-Frenchtown area in the 1930s.

[Wintersmommy]

Being that I am from fine French Stock [[with a ton of German added in for good measure) I am all for us being more Frenchlike....

[blackmath]

Detroit, the Kinshasa of North America.

As long as we don't become the Mogadishu of North America, we're cool.

[Pam]

There are a couple of French restaurants now, isn't that good enough?

http://www.goodgirlsgotopariscrepes.com/

http://lepetitzincdetroit.com/

[kryptonite]

NO! I love Detroit and I love Paris. But we will never be the anything of the Midwest except maybe Mogadishu.

Seriously though, we have nothing in common with Paris. I have been there four times. Paris is an apex urban area that ranks with places like London, Vienna, Rome, Moscow, Prague, Budapest, etc. We have nearly nothing in common with those places.

We are a large urban area ourselves with some unique attractions and history, but we do not compare to such places as Paris.

I love Detroit for what it is. Granted that ain't much, but it's home. And it's affordable.

[bobby wobby]

Yes, I always thought a smaller Eiffel Tower right where the Hart Plaza is, would set Datwa off.

[canuck]

Montreal has been called the Paris of North America but it bears little resemblance to it. I totally agree with those of you like kryptonite who want to do away with the wannabe syndrome. But we can imitate features and maybe improve on all cities by comparing notes. We can restore and use the best of what we have from the past, i.e; Detroit Opera House. Cities need to innovate in terms of urban planning to reduce energy use but they must also avoid new architecture that limits human interaction. In the best possible world, Detroit would not become the plaything of one visionary architect, but rather a rebirth that came about from diligent participatory process.

[jackie5275]

So, what do people think about creating an urban plan for Detroit that is European [[or Parisian) in style and not American. We can make Detroit the most unique American city. Specifically, roundabouts, fountains, statutues, plazas, lined trees, cobble-stone streets, and a UNIFORM ARCHITECTURE of apartments and condos that look European. Instead of going to Paris, people can visit Detroit? Any thoughts?????

Not to sound like I'm going on some Republican/Tea Party patriot rant, but I like being American. We need to keep our American styled city with just that style. We wouldn't be some unique American city by looking European. We'd just be copycats who couldn't come up with something on their own.

Doing a complete overhaul of the City's infrastructure, even if done in the limited area of Midtown [[which I think looks pretty good right now with recent improvements), to install all the items you are suggesting would cost tons of money the City doesn't have right now or anytime in the, dare I say, near or distant future. I think what we have now is fine, except it just needs to be cleaned up & maintained properly.

BTW, try running a snow plow over those cobblestone streets in winter when we get hit with 6 inches of snow.

[ronaldj]

Reference Constantinos Doxiodos megalopolis study with Detroit as the center from Chicago to Montreal.

[Hypestyles]

if there can be a 'Frenchtown' section of Detroit, that may be cool.. a small scale version of the above suggestions..