How the World views Detroit....

eastjohn · December-22-10, 12:12 AM

For the curious, type in any city of the world into Google images.For example, type Detroit, then try Indianapolis.See what type of images come up.Use any city you want.This is what the world sees in us.

eastjohn · December-22-10, 12:16 AM

East St.Louis and Gary Indiana look worse than Detroit.

**sumas** · December-22-10, 12:19 AM

Like Detroit just fine. A little raw but very real

eastjohn · December-22-10, 12:22 AM

yeah the D looks somewhat decent. Here's an idea for the D. Hire some computer geeks from Cass Tech. Flood the net with positive images of the D and suppress the negative photos.

**Magnatomicflux** · December-22-10, 12:50 AM

Wanna see how incredibly stupid people view Detroit?
I mean....they actually THINK this is Detroit.

This is from Snopes, so they debunk the idea of this photo being Detroit....but still, I wanted to scream that's out there and listed as Detroit somewhere.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/detroit.asp

**blackmath** · December-22-10, 04:52 AM

Originally Posted by Magnatomicflux

Wanna see how incredibly stupid people view Detroit?
I mean....they actually THINK this is Detroit.

This is from Snopes, so they debunk the idea of this photo being Detroit....but still, I wanted to scream that's out there and listed as Detroit somewhere.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/detroit.asp

Jeez Magna, I'd kill for that kind of urban density

**Left_For_Texas** · December-22-10, 06:27 AM

This video is how a lot of people view Detroit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WKMNmFsxM

**Ocean2026** · December-22-10, 08:17 AM

I live in Texas but often talk about going up to Detroit to look at old buildings as we have nothing near what Detroit offers in architecture.

Unfortunately most Texans I talk to think I'm nuts and stereotype Detroit as violent, poor and perhaps not a friendly place for whites. No I don't think Texans are any more racist than other places -in fact when I lived in NYC it seemed important what your ethnicity was - here it doesn't Unfortunately large scale news events such as the Detroit Riots and Kwame have poisoned people. Not everyone cares about old buildings.

**bailey** · December-22-10, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by Ocean2026

I live in Texas but often talk about going up to Detroit to look at old buildings as we have nothing near what Detroit offers in architecture.

Unfortunately most Texans I talk to think I'm nuts and stereotype Detroit as violent, poor and perhaps not a friendly place for whites. No I don't think Texans are any more racist than other places -in fact when I lived in NYC it seemed important what your ethnicity was - here it doesn't Unfortunately large scale news events such as the Detroit Riots and Kwame have poisoned people. Not everyone cares about old buildings.

You're right. They care about jobs, functional government, diversity, economic opportunity, safe streets, decent roads, a tax burden equal to the service level....etc. Yeah, I'd say "old [empty] buildings" are not high on most people's list of what makes a place attractive to live.

**wolverine** · December-22-10, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by eastjohn

yeah the D looks somewhat decent. Here's an idea for the D. Hire some computer geeks from Cass Tech. Flood the net with positive images of the D and suppress the negative photos.

Since major data farms accurately log viewer counts for photos, it's unfortunate to say, but the "ruin porn" wins. Even in my own photo account, positive downtown photos I've taken of Detroit with beautiful sunsets and tons of people walking about will get 22 hits where a crappy rainy day photo of some abandoned building will get 1000 views.

**Gistok** · December-23-10, 01:02 AM

Wolverine, you're right. As an example.... for every person that wants to see the Detroit Fox Theatre in all its' restored glory... there's at least 10 times that number that would rather see the former Michigan Theatre...

**BrushStart** · December-23-10, 01:09 AM

People enjoy a good tragedy...

**LeannaM** · December-23-10, 02:10 AM

This is an interesting experiment, though obviously not 100% accurate. But you couldn't measure public opinion 100% accurately.

The closest I have to a large city hometown is St. Louis. It mostly pulls up pictures of the arch. There are a few of the neighborhoods, Busch Stadium, and the like, but mostly the arch.

A search of Seattle also pulls up the space needle. Searching for Detroit pulls up quite a few skyline pictures but also decay pictures. Obviously the pictures for East St. Louis, Gary, Indiana, and Cairo, Illinois are not good either. The Chicago pictures are almost all good. A little more negative if you type in south side Chicago.

Searching for Cleveland pulls up mostly positive images, with a few decay pictures and a few of the cartoon called Cleveland. Camden, New Jersey pictures are not good overall.

I think the cities that have the worst representation are the small cities with decay that don't offer as many positives. I think the larger cities are represented a little bit better.

If you type in urban decay you get pictures from many different cities on different continents.

Interesting article I ran across.
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-cap...y-photography/

**Al Publican** · December-23-10, 02:23 AM

If only Detroit had that sort of population density.

**wolverine** · December-23-10, 04:27 AM

My google images search "Detroit" was sad. The first page wasn't pretty. At least 40% abandonment and blight / 30% historic photos which makes it even more saddening for comparison reasons, and a couple stereotypical skylines, which were nice but expected.

I tried on flickr which is somewhat less reliable in general searches since "relevant photos" link yields completely unrelated material half the time. Recent photos doesn't count since it can be the inside of someone's living room in Detroit taken just minutes ago. "Interesting" was propbably the best selection...unfortunately it yielded somewhat similar results as google with a few extras.

As for wishing Detroit had density, at least from certain angles it definitely has some mass. I took this photo a few years ago and it conceals some of the empty spots.

**iheartthed** · December-23-10, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by LeannaM

This is an interesting experiment, though obviously not 100% accurate. But you couldn't measure public opinion 100% accurately.

The closest I have to a large city hometown is St. Louis. It mostly pulls up pictures of the arch. There are a few of the neighborhoods, Busch Stadium, and the like, but mostly the arch.

A search of Seattle also pulls up the space needle. Searching for Detroit pulls up quite a few skyline pictures but also decay pictures. Obviously the pictures for East St. Louis, Gary, Indiana, and Cairo, Illinois are not good either. The Chicago pictures are almost all good. A little more negative if you type in south side Chicago.

Searching for Cleveland pulls up mostly positive images, with a few decay pictures and a few of the cartoon called Cleveland. Camden, New Jersey pictures are not good overall.

I think the cities that have the worst representation are the small cities with decay that don't offer as many positives. I think the larger cities are represented a little bit better.

If you type in urban decay you get pictures from many different cities on different continents.

Interesting article I ran across.
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-cap...y-photography/

Image control. Something Detroit could stand to learn a bit about.

**Diana O'.** · December-24-10, 06:17 PM

This is my first post here. I hope it works. From a Windsor perspective, Detroit is amazing. All my life, seeing the Detroit skyline from the bank of the Detroit River, I have always had a naiive sense of mystery about what lies beyond all those incredible structures. To see a small gallery of photos of Detroit from a Windsor perspective, visit: http://www.dianart.biz/g_us_eh_thumbs.htm

gdogslim · December-25-10, 01:44 AM

RE Wolverene:

Originally Posted by wolverine

Since major data farms accurately log viewer counts for photos, it's unfortunate to say, but the "ruin porn" wins. Even in my own photo account, positive downtown photos I've taken of Detroit with beautiful sunsets and tons of people walking about will get 22 hits where a crappy rainy day photo of some abandoned building will get 1000 views.

That is pretty interesting stuff, I know databases track web stuff all over the globe.
I was curious though since I don't know anything about this log viewer photo count related to the picture stuff.
How would a data farm [[or people trackers) know if a photo image was positive or negative without physically looking at each one? , and how many people view these photos to track it? Is it the title of the photo? I'm ignorant about this.

DetroitDad · December-25-10, 05:21 AM

It has vastly improved in the past five years. It used to be all blight, abandonment, racism, and arson pictures.

**skyl4rk** · December-25-10, 07:03 AM

Originally Posted by Diana O'.

This is my first post here. I hope it works. From a Windsor perspective, Detroit is amazing. All my life, seeing the Detroit skyline from the bank of the Detroit River, I have always had a naiive sense of mystery about what lies beyond all those incredible structures. To see a small gallery of photos of Detroit from a Windsor perspective, visit: http://www.dianart.biz/g_us_eh_thumbs.htm

Welcome to the forum! Nice views!

**Diana O'.** · December-25-10, 03:35 PM

Thank you skyl4rk. I love this site. It's top notch all the way, especially with all the spectacular banner panoramas of Detroit across top of each page. I hope Detroit can find its way back to her former glory. There is so much to see, if only people could actually see what they're looking at. I love all the architectural variety, character and soul of Detroit. She has great stories that have yet to be told!

**Brother James** · December-25-10, 03:39 PM

The faked photo is sad, but Detroit does have its horrors. Some of the east side neighborhoods off E. Jefferson near Grosse Pointe look like bombed-out Beirut in the 1980's.

I grew up in River Rouge, and I've lived in California, Florida, and Northern Virginia. I've got a pretty good view of how people from other places view Detroit. They ask some really strange questions sometimes, like how many murders I witnessed when I lived there. Crazy stuff, but the media portrays Detroit that way. That's how the perceptions get established. Detroit needs some big successes to turn things around. I don't know when or where they'll come from. Getting some of the corruption out of city government is a great start. From the early 1970's onward, it was deeply rooted in everything. For example, a friend of mine used to sell plumbing parts to the city housing department. Before giving him an order, the housing manager would tell him "Mayor Young's re-election ball is coming up, and tickets are $100 a piece. Can I put you and your wife down for two tickets?" Of course he had to pay the $200 bribe to get the order. Always cash. And there was never a ball. I hope that at least has all changed with Mayor Bing.

**Gistok** · December-25-10, 03:56 PM

This topic thread should have been "how the rest of the country views Detroit"... since no mention of the rest of the world has been forthcoming.... Most Europeans view Detroit in a rather curious way... more gritty "urban chic"... than anything resembling murder capital.... Europeans are intrigued by the Motor City, and have been so for a long time.

**night-timer** · December-25-10, 09:15 PM

Well, I live in Sydney, Australia, and I have never been the the D, as much as I would like to.

You can ask "the rest of the world" what they think of Detroit, but it is mere opinion, as few people go there for tourist-y reasons. They may have opinions, but those opinions may not be authoritative or even accurate.

[[Much of it will be superficial and not based on true 'local knowledge' like that of lifetime residents.)

Most people who visit the USA go to New York and LA..... or anywhere there's a Disney funpark. Some may even go to Vegas or Miami or perhaps Chicago.

That's if you're interested in cities, like I am. Others will be visiting the US for skiing or your National Park wilderness areas. It depends whether you are more "under the spell of all things man-made", like I am.

When I meet Americans, I ask their opinion of Detroit due to my own interest in the place.

One said, "It's an armpit", another said "Detroit is now too far gone".

The one who said the place is an armpit told me about a work colleague who was knifed [[and died) in the D after venturing into a bad part of town at 2am. He was in Detroit on business and probably looking for nightlife in the wrong area.

Don't take it personally if visitors are interested in your 'urban blight' or old buildings or changing fortunes.

People in business management courses endlessly try to act wise by quoting Henry Ford, but he was a product of the industrial age and nowadays you'd probably be better off "parroting" someone from Silicon Valley, not the D.

**night-timer** · December-25-10, 09:30 PM

BTW, a quick search of Detroit images on Google brought up a variety of things.... historic B&W photos, modern skyline shots, neglected houses, litter on sidewalks, abandoned business buildings and portraits of a few Detroit public figures. I didn't see any pix of gang members or drug use.

Searching for images of Detroit's dangerous areas tends to bring up only run-down suburban streets - the houses look cheap and neglected, but the streets look deserted, not full of gang-bangers. They are never visible in Detroit photos. Do these guys only come out after dark?