Explaining the decline of Detroit 1950-today

Explaining the population decline of Detroit, 1950s to present day

People moved away from the city in large numbers as a spiral of decline became established. Some moved to the suburbs outside the city boundary, others moved away from Detroit and Michigan altogether. A combination of push and pull factors worked against the city. A big division appeared, where Detroit city itself was African-American (black), poor and in decline, and the towns and neighbourhoods in areas around the city white, wealthy and growing.

The Motown record company set up in Detroit in 1959. It quickly became a number one global recording company and record

label. Motown music and artists like Marvin Gaye, the Supremes and Stevie Wonder gained worldwide fame for the label, themselves and the city. During the 1960s, Motown music and the city were going in opposite directions. The music was on the rise, while Detroit was a city in transition and going into decline.

Evidence of the decline was easy to see, with the ongoing population loss and urban decay. There were thousands of empty homes, apartment buildings and commercial buildings in the city. The council could not fully maintain city services such as policing, fire protection, schools, rubbish removal, snow removal and street lighting because money was so short. By 2013, the city had run out of money and was bankrupt.

Factors that led to the decline of Detroit

The causes of the decline - factors closing, job losses, racial problems and rising rates of crime - have been written about many times. What is argues about is what came first and started the decline.

The big industries began moving away from Detroit to locations with cheaper labour and lower taxes from the 1950s onwards. Some of these new locations were in suburbs and towns surrounding Detroit, but many were in other states well away from Detroit. Setting up in a new location also gave the industries the chance to build modern, more efficient factories instead of operating in factories built in Detroit 30 or 40 years ago. In many cases, people followed the jobs. Out-migration and population decline became features of the city. When factories and people moved to areas in the counties around Detroit like Macomb and Oakland, offices, shopping malls, schools, sports arenas and other services were developed to support the middle class and growing populations. These places became self-contained and self-sufficient. Residents had little need to commute to Detroit for work or services.

The auto industry, for a long time the symbol of a modern and prosperous Detroit, has been through a huge slump that has hurt the city. Many car manufacturers have closed down their Detroit factories. In other cases they have kept some production in the

Detroit area but have opened new factories elsewhere in the USA, for example in Tennessee and Kentucky, and in Mexico. They have been attractive to these new locations by cheaper labour costs and by the higher outputs that can be gained from high-tec newly built factories. When the car factories close or reduce output, the linked industries suffer (see diagram above). Job losses and unemployment followed by out-migration of workers and their families is often the result. The US car producers have been hit by competition from Japanese, Korean and European globally focused auto producers like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, VW and BMW. These companies produce small and medium-sized fuel-efficient and green vehicles, which have reputations for good design, safety, economy and reliability. Union power in the Detroit car factories has also helped cause the decline. In the short term the union power in the factories gained higher wages for the workers, but in the longer term this cost workers their jobs as the companies switched to more automated production methods and moved to new locations where they could negotiate lower wages for job security. In the past, African-American migration from the Southern states moved north to Detroit. Now there is a reversal of that trent, with migration from Detroit back to the South taking place.

Three other negatives for the city, which were long present beneath the surface, became noticeable from the 1960s onwards. These were crime, financial mismanagement and corruption by city officials, and racial tension. All three problems are among the 'push factors' that have caused people to leave the city. There are famous markers of these problems.

Crime

Devil's Night is a name for the night before Halloween (30 October). For a long time this had been a night of minor and mostly harmless mischief and small-scale vandalism across the United States with little major property damage taking place. In Detroit, however, serious vandalism and arson began during the 1970s. These crimes reached a peak in 1984 when there were over 800 fires set across the city. Often it was empty or abandoned buildings that were set alight and destroyed.

Financial mismanagement and corruption

Many Detroit city officials have been found guilty of mismanaging and misusing public funds. Kwame Kilpatrick, the mayor of the city between 2002 and 2008, is serving time in prison after being found guilty of obstruction of justice, assault of a police officer, racketeering, tax evasion, extortion and fraud. In 2013, the city declared itself bankrupt.

Racial tensions

In 1967 race riots were the worst in American history and left 43 people dead, 7000 arrested an d 3000 buildings destroyed. Reports on the riots pointed to an African-American population that had had enough of discrimination in the workplace where they rarely got promoted to more skilled and better paid jobs, had had enough of living in neighbourhoods with old, rundown and crowded housing where the city spent little money on improving services, had had enough of police brutality, and saw little chance to ever get ahead. The fierce and angry riots were the final straw for many of the better paid (mostly white) residents, and thousands packed their bags and moved to suburbs beyond the city limits and to other states. This 'white flight' was perceived as bad by those concerned about the city finances because of the loss of money (in spending and in taxes) to the city when the wealthier people left, and bad by those seeking racial integration. But for many African-Americans, long downtrodden and discriminated against, the 'white flight' was viewed as 'good riddance'.

The people who remained were those who were too poor to get out. They were also mostly African-American. In the last 40 years the population of the surrounding suburbs has risen from one to over three million, while the city population has shrunk to 700,000. Those who left took most of the jobs, political power and money with them. The city has changed from being 80 percent white and wealthy to being 85 percent black and mostly poor. The demography of the suburbs surrounding Detroit, in Oakland and Macomb counties, is exactly the reverse, with 80 percent white and mostly prosperous middle class. The 2011 census showed a new trend in the outward movement of people from Detroit since 2000 - better off and middle class black people were leaving the city in increasing numbers and moving to more desirable communities in the counties neighbouring Detroit.

Detroit has suffered a spiral of decline. This is similar to cumulative causation in reverse. Migration away from the city (out-migration) has taken place on a huge scale. The result has been that fewer people live in the city.

DETROIT, A SPIRAL OF DECLINE

Highland Park, a separate small city completely surrounded by the rest of Detroit city, has become known as the lowest of the low - poor, black, burned down and tough. It was once home to Ford factories and their famous pay deal of $5 a day for workers. In the early 1900s, thousands of families flooded into the city and thousands of Model T Ford's flowed off the production lines. Between 1910 and 1930, Highland Park was breaking records for huge increases in population, which rose from 4000 to 50,000. Since 1950, the opposite has happened, and Highland Park has lost 80 percent of its population and now it has fewer than 10,000 residents. In 1950, it was known as the 'City of Trees' and a desirable place to live. Ford then moved car production lines and its global headquarters to 'The Rouge' in Dearborn outside of the city boundary. Chrysler remained in Highland Park for longer but it also relocated to the outer suburbs in the early 1990s. Highland Park loses its tax income and had no money. Now Highland Park is the poorest city in Michigan - it has all the problems of Detroit in just 8 sq km. Its entire library system shut in 2002 to save money, and streetlights on residential streets were removed. Residents were asked to leave on their own porch lights to prevent crime. The police force and fire service were left understaffed and using old and out-of-date equipment. According to the fire chief, arson for entertainment and to get an insurance payout took place all the time. Highland Park is a place Detroiters look at as being worse than where they live. A travel guide bleakly warns that 'Highland Park is not highly regarded as a safe city. Visitors should not visit Highland Park at all after dark'.

RESOURCE ONE: Detroit city and surrounding counties population change 1970-2010

RESOURCE TWO: Detroit city and surrounding counties African-American population 2010

RESOURCE THREE: Detroit city area income gap between inner and outer suburbs, 2010

RESOURCE FOUR: Infographic showing 60 years of population change in Detroit

The present and the future

Landscapes and places change all the time. Past changes can be recognised and explained, future change can be difficult to predict. People view and perceive Detroit in different ways, some with gloom and despair, others with a sense of excitement and hope.

The decline and the decay are true but in a large city of 700,000 people there are many positive and hard-working people and good places and pleasant neighbourhoods. Many people who work in factories, shops and offices, in universities, in hospitals and own businesses have well-maintained homes and gardens and well-paid jobs. There are community-minded people trying to make things better by setting up neighbourhood groups to improve the parks, streets and provide activities for the teenagers. These people want the best for themselves, their families and their city.
The central city Downtown and Midtown areas have a mix of new and redeveloped high-rise and historic
buildings. These are areas of the city with university and hospital neighbourhoods as well as business headquarters. The Renaissance Centre in Downtown is a complex of seven interconnected skyscrapers, one of which is the world headquarters of General Motors. Opening of the centre has results in some businesses moving back to the centre of Detroit. Many of these are small businesses set up by IT professionals, artists, designers and musicians. A diversified local economy replacing the dominance of single, large industries may be the future of Detroit. An arts and entertainment hub is beginning to develop in the central area.
This central area of the city has seen the opening of modern sports stadiums and casinos. These are part of the drive to see Detroit become a major tourism destination. Along the waterfront, a nine-kilometre walkway for pedestrians, cyclists and skateboarders has been developed. This walkway links some of the new high-rise apartments, office buildings and a cruise ship terminal with parks, marinas and wildlife sanctuaries that are located in the waterfront area. This riverside area has become the home of a variety of annual events and festivals such as auto shows, an international marathon, music and arts festivals.
Another area of the city that has been revitalised is Mexicantown. This is an area to the southwest of the
city centre where large numbers of Hispanic migrants have settled in the past 25 years. Houses could be bought cheaply in neighbourhoods abandoned by many in the white middle class. The area now has a thriving business area and some new housing. Mexicantown buildings have been decorated with bright murals and hand-painted signs, and there are more restaurants per square kilometre than in any other neighbourhood in Detroit. Mexicantown today is one of Detroit's few diverse neighbourhoods, with large numbers of white, black as well as Hispanic residents, and it has been held up as a model of what other neighbourhoods of Detroit could look like in the future.
2012-2014 has seen the beginning of a revival for auto companies Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. The companies have restructured. Car sales are increasing and more workers hired. The one remaining car factory in Detroit City, Chrysler, is at full production with its Grand Cherokee Jeep.
Demographers predict Detroit's population could stabilise in the 650,000-700,000 range. The crucial issue, the planners say, is what will happen to the vast suburban neighbourhoods. These are the neighbourhoods people have abandoned, which are now scarred by crime, blight and poverty. The fear is that these distressed neighbourhoods will continue to wither and decline unless Detroit provides better employment options, better public services, more adult literacy programmes and job training to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
One vision of the future is of Detroit becoming a smaller, sustainable and model green city with a vibrant and modern downtown core for businesses and tourists, and with urban farms and pedestrian/bike paths linking this core to compact neighbourhood communities and town centres dotted across the suburban areas.