In all honesty, I have not finished reading the section pertaining to Detroit. However what I have read has been insightful. I have heard about gentrification and the ways in which it impacts local residents with rising rents that displace them. However, I never heard from the perspective of developers which was interesting. I would be lying if I said I was surprised about what Dan Gilbert and his supporters had to say about the upbringing of Detroit, but it was still shocking to some degree to read the exact quotes of them saying how they did not care for how many people’s lives were negatively impacted.
Another component of revitalizing Detroit that was surprising, was how all the money was being funneled into a very small portion of the city. It is beyond upsetting to know the disregard people have for others, especially the vulnerable. It is hard because Detoirt did need work done, but did it need to negatively impact so many people? I don’t think so. All of the money being spent to work on Detroit did not need to just go into one small part of the whole city and there could’ve been more done with policy in how they treated the housing situation for the residents for those already living there.
After reading the bit that I did, I am glad to be informed about the more behind the scene functions. However, it makes me wonder how we can fix this problem of gentrification which continues to happen in one city to the next. I appreciate this book for introducing me to the problem, but I hope as I read more the author provides solutions – real actions that can lead to real change.
I totally agree with you wanting more information about how to fix gentrification and heal the city, that is something I am curious about too. I know that Detroit needs revitalization, but there has to be a way to do it that doesn’t exclude the people who have lived in Detroit for decades. I am interested to see if the author goes into more detail about how companies can invest in cities ethically, and how the average person can push back against gentrification.
Hey Gabi,
It is really upsetting that so much money is going to only a small part of the city. The media of course doesn’t help much when platforms also heavily address these areas in a positive light and either neglect or present in a negative way, the other parts of the city.
Hey Gabi,
I totally agree, it IS disgusting seeing just how much these corporate conglomerates just don’t care about the lives they are negatively changing. It makes you question, do they really want to “build up Detroit” or just build the thickness in their wallets? Downtown really is just one small part of the city. I hope we can see that more money gets funded into outer parts of the city as well.