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Cities: a warning from Detroit Cities: a warning from Detroit
(2 months later)
Detroit is a graveyard of the mass production capitalism which once sustained the United States and Europe. It is a city in the process of ceasing to be a city, its services run down, its ambulances limping forlornly forth from ageing hospitals, its police and firemen barely able to cope. Those broken and windowless buildings loom out frighteningly at us, the residents of more fortunate places, from the television screen or the pages of colour supplements. Parts seem as deserted as Chernobyl or as blasted as Stalingrad in the aftermath of battle. If sheep are not yet grazing in the forum, they soon could be, and Rome and other lost cities of the ancient world are often invoked by the many writers who have gone there to write Detroit's obituary or to herald its possible rebirth.Detroit is a graveyard of the mass production capitalism which once sustained the United States and Europe. It is a city in the process of ceasing to be a city, its services run down, its ambulances limping forlornly forth from ageing hospitals, its police and firemen barely able to cope. Those broken and windowless buildings loom out frighteningly at us, the residents of more fortunate places, from the television screen or the pages of colour supplements. Parts seem as deserted as Chernobyl or as blasted as Stalingrad in the aftermath of battle. If sheep are not yet grazing in the forum, they soon could be, and Rome and other lost cities of the ancient world are often invoked by the many writers who have gone there to write Detroit's obituary or to herald its possible rebirth.
The fact that the city filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, the largest such insolvency in American history, could be taken either way. It is the end for the old Detroit, but perhaps also a beginning for a new Detroit. But is Detroit the urban future, or part of it, prefiguring a fate which could befall other centres? There was a time, after all, when many cities on both sides of the Atlantic seemed on the brink of a decline that could have been as steep. New York almost went bankrupt in the 70s, while Liverpool in the 80s, and the poorer parts of northern Paris as recently as a few years ago, showed the same joblessness, disaffection and erosion of public finances that Detroit has taken to such an extreme degree. And the riots in Tottenham and other places in Britain in 2011 were a sharp reminder that all is far from well in British cities. Some post-industrial Russian cities are even worse.The fact that the city filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, the largest such insolvency in American history, could be taken either way. It is the end for the old Detroit, but perhaps also a beginning for a new Detroit. But is Detroit the urban future, or part of it, prefiguring a fate which could befall other centres? There was a time, after all, when many cities on both sides of the Atlantic seemed on the brink of a decline that could have been as steep. New York almost went bankrupt in the 70s, while Liverpool in the 80s, and the poorer parts of northern Paris as recently as a few years ago, showed the same joblessness, disaffection and erosion of public finances that Detroit has taken to such an extreme degree. And the riots in Tottenham and other places in Britain in 2011 were a sharp reminder that all is far from well in British cities. Some post-industrial Russian cities are even worse.
Fortunately the picture is not that bleak. There are special factors at work in the United States which make cities more vulnerable to swings in their economic fortunes than those in Europe, and special factors in Michigan and Detroit that left the once-mighty automobile centre peculiarly open to decline. The United States lets its cities sink or swim in a way inconceivable to Europeans. American cities fund their budgets from their own tax base, with only limited subventions from state or federal government. If that tax base shrinks, as it began to shrink in Detroit decades ago, they must borrow to maintain services and can dig themselves ultimately into a very deep debt pit. British cities, by contrast, are constrained in what they can borrow and they receive support from central government on a basis which redistributes funding from richer to poorer communities. Some European countries, like Spain and Germany, are more like America.Fortunately the picture is not that bleak. There are special factors at work in the United States which make cities more vulnerable to swings in their economic fortunes than those in Europe, and special factors in Michigan and Detroit that left the once-mighty automobile centre peculiarly open to decline. The United States lets its cities sink or swim in a way inconceivable to Europeans. American cities fund their budgets from their own tax base, with only limited subventions from state or federal government. If that tax base shrinks, as it began to shrink in Detroit decades ago, they must borrow to maintain services and can dig themselves ultimately into a very deep debt pit. British cities, by contrast, are constrained in what they can borrow and they receive support from central government on a basis which redistributes funding from richer to poorer communities. Some European countries, like Spain and Germany, are more like America.
Another difference is that the American middle class, and some businesses, have frequently been able to escape the tax demands of big cities by moving out to legally separate, lightly taxed satellite communities while continuing to earn their living in the urban core. In Europe such escapees often find themselves recaptured by boundary adjustments.Another difference is that the American middle class, and some businesses, have frequently been able to escape the tax demands of big cities by moving out to legally separate, lightly taxed satellite communities while continuing to earn their living in the urban core. In Europe such escapees often find themselves recaptured by boundary adjustments.
So European cities are better insulated against trouble than American ones. A city's misfortunes will usually be softened by funds from better-off regions, while in the United States such help is both less and comes later. Yet it is obvious that the austerity measures laying waste to much of the European and American economic scene could in the end severely damage city and other local governments everywhere. Local councils in Britain, for example, are warning more and more insistently that cuts in funding are moving beyond just impairing services to the point where they could completely undermine them. In Detroit, gentrification nibbles at the edges of desolation. There are economic new starts, and optimists are looking for a tipping point into revival. Yet there is another tipping point, the one that opens up again that terrible landscape of burnt-out cars, shuttered shops and deserted roads. Detroit is not a precedent, but it is a warning.So European cities are better insulated against trouble than American ones. A city's misfortunes will usually be softened by funds from better-off regions, while in the United States such help is both less and comes later. Yet it is obvious that the austerity measures laying waste to much of the European and American economic scene could in the end severely damage city and other local governments everywhere. Local councils in Britain, for example, are warning more and more insistently that cuts in funding are moving beyond just impairing services to the point where they could completely undermine them. In Detroit, gentrification nibbles at the edges of desolation. There are economic new starts, and optimists are looking for a tipping point into revival. Yet there is another tipping point, the one that opens up again that terrible landscape of burnt-out cars, shuttered shops and deserted roads. Detroit is not a precedent, but it is a warning.
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