The Multi-Racial Decline of the USA - Satellite images of Detroit reveal the extent of the collapse

Appendix 1: THE MULTI-RACIAL DECLINE OF CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY

THE RUINS OF DETROIT

According to the 2000 US census, 88% of Detroit's population is non-White. This percentage is even higher in the city center. Detroit qualifies as the most ruined city in the USA. In addition to massive White Flight, the non-White residents started the tradition - which has spread to other cities - of "Devil's Night". This is the habit or burning down parts of the city on the night before Halloween.

A huge non-White population, combined with annual arson attacks, bankruptcy, crime and decay, have combined to make Detroit - once the USA's leading automotive industrial center - into a ruin comparable with those of the ancient civilizations - with the cause being identical: the replacement of the White population who built the city, with a new non-White population.

"Landsat MSS" satellite and TM data from 1975 and 1992 have been employed by the University of Michigan to create the following change image for vegetation in Detroit, Michigan. The change image was then overlain with 1980 and 1990 census tract data and analysis is performed to determine the relationship between the socio-economic-demographic data and the change in vegetation.

"The pattern of increasing vegetation in Detroit appears related to the demographic, social, and economic conditions and changes taking place in the city. By incorporating data from the 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing, an association can be made between the social environment and change in the vegetation of Detroit's census tracts. Using spatial analysis techniques patterns of spatial processes can be determined and compared. Our findings show that in the city of Detroit, social stress and neighborhood decline, marked by a low median income and a high fertility rate, is associated with, and can be detected by, an increase in the vegetation."

- The Greening of Detroit: The Social and Demographic Correlates, Rhonda M. Ryznar, Ph.D. Candidate, John D. Nystuen, Ph.D., Robert W. Marans, Ph.D, University of Michigan, Department of Urban and Regional Planning (http://www.spatial.maine.edu/ucgis/testproc/ryznar/ryznar.html)

"Groundtruthing in the city of Detroit revealed that areas with predominantly green pixels occurred in neighborhoods with a high frequency of abandoned houses, overgrown sidewalks, and overgrown and sometimes impassable alleyways. These neighborhoods were usually punctuated by large vacant open spaces where abandoned homes or buildings had been demolished."

"However, while the presence of vegetation in urban areas at a point in time may be correlated with areas of higher income, our preliminary study of Detroit indicated that a change, or increase, in vegetation density may be associated with communities undergoing social stress, i.e., a diminishing quality of life."

A powerful indicator of how nature is once again reclaiming the Detroit city center is the proliferation of wildlife in this formerly built-up area. These pheasants are a popular game bird and are widely hunted in Michigan. Normally wary and unapproachable, these birds have found a refuge in Detroit as nature is reclaiming the city. During hunting season, the presence of these birds in the city is even more pronounced as they flee the from the surrounding countryside into Detroit's urban prairies to avoid being shot. Although this obvious irony could be the subject of humor, it contains a significant deeper meaning of how the environment in that city is changing.

As with the ruins of ancient fallen civilizations, the remnants of Detroit are being slowly reclaimed by overgrowth and nature as the civilization which once stood there falls into decay. The parallels are clear, and only the willingly blind will ignore them.

To the next city: New York City

Appendices

Main Contents Page

Re-use for commercial purposes strictly forbidden.