There is an opportunity in the middle of this economic collapse for places like Detroit to ‘reset.’
Imagine all the bombed out, raggedy, derelict neighborhoods in Motown converted to urban farms and artist enclaves. In fact, blow it out – imagine the entire broken down rust belt re-created as a life belt?
Sounds nutty?
It’s not. Detroit is leading the way, selling old, dilapidated homes for as little as $100.
So what did $1,900 buy? The run-down bungalow had already been stripped of its appliances and wiring by the city’s voracious scrappers. But for Mitch that only added to its appeal, because he now had the opportunity to renovate it with solar heating, solar electricity and low-cost, high-efficiency appliances.
Buying that first house had a snowball effect. Almost immediately, Mitch and Gina bought two adjacent lots for even less and, with the help of friends and local youngsters, dug in a garden. Then they bought the house next door for $500, reselling it to a pair of local artists for a $50 profit. When they heard about the $100 place down the street, they called their friends Jon and Sarah.
Admittedly, the $100 home needed some work, a hole patched, some windows replaced. But Mitch plans to connect their home to his mini-green grid and a neighborhood is slowly coming together.
Artists stay broke, and as the world economy gets wacker, more and more may be enticed into staying somewhere like this, if they can be sold on the idea of becoming part of a ‘new movement.’
Another trend in Detroit – urban gardening. Folks in the hood are looking around and realizing that instead of getting ganked for nine bucks for a bushel of collards from the local grocery store, they can turn some of the abandoned land around the way into urban gardens.
“Visiting one of the largest allotments, on a site that had been derelict since Detroit’s infamous 1967 riots, locals spoke about an astonishing transformation.
“There is something that every hand in this area can do,” said Rose Stallard, who is keen to enlist as many volunteers as possible to help tend the garden and its precious crops. As she organises a band of eager helpers to pull greens from the rich top-soil, Ms Stallard says food is more expensive than ever and neighbourhood shops are scarce. “That’s one cucumber you didn’t have to pay 69 cents for,” she adds, with a smile.”
More on ‘Bringing back the Rust Belt’:
Kunstler on Peak Suburbia; Harpers Magazine on Detroit
Taking Back the City, One Building at a Time
How Long Until The Rust Belt Becomes The Life Belt?
That little house is so charming. My wife used to live in a Motown burb and went to art school downtown. We took a ride down memory lane (aka Woodward) a couple of years ago, before the Big 3 joined the death spiral, and even then it was hard to see how much revitalization could possibly occur. But, this is how you do it: one broken house, one tiny overgrown garden at a time. More power to these people. And to the artists who always, always lead the charge of neighborhood improvement.
As bombed out as Detroit is, I figure if EAST NEW YORK can be brought back and some parts of DC can, why not Detroit?
Especially given how CHEAP it’ll be up there after a while.
I mean, the median home price is Detroit is only $7,500!
That’s a lot of land that can be snatched up. And as desperate as Detroit will probably get, I can see them letting anybody with enough money and half a plan make the attempt.