Last night I was catching up on my hulu and I watched the episode of Detroit 1-8-7 called “Ice Man/Malibu” (Season 1:Episode 11). As I’ve mentioned before this new show likes to bring up the complicated issues as it pertains to the blight, the violence, the hope, and the change in Detroit. The issue that came up in this episode was “urban porn.” Please don’t google it. You know how that will turn out.
According to the show, “urban porn” is when photographers come to a city like Detroit to photograph the blight and sensationalize it. The show features a European photographer who wants to capture the collapse of a major American city. Elder cop and native Detroiter, Jesse Longford takes offense at the practice. He captures the feeling that some Detrioters have that it’s simply unfair to photograph the blight selectively and ignore the new development to your left or to your right. Detroit is a mismatch of old and new, broken and rebuilt. Unless you want to capture both, you are just giving people the “urban porn” they want to see.
Check out the “before” and “after” slideshow in this link (right bottom of page) to see the Detroit RiverFront project and the great improvement there. For instance:
Before, Rivard Plaza
After, Rivard Plaza
Lastly, my friend Emily sent me a cool link from an urban analyst’s website. It is an article about how the lack of chain grocery stores in Detroit does not necessarily mean a dearth of food options in the city and how the independent stores are actually better for the city. In the future, I would love to research and write about the new urban farming happening in Detroit. It’s fascinating.
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