Discover Top Posts Tagged with #pete saunders

Pete Saunders has a good take on things.

#Pete Saunders #Urban Planning #Election

Performing at The Society Club, Monday July 16!

So Excited to be performing Monday at one of the hottest new places in town!

The Society Club Presents: Monday Night Salon 12 Ingestre Place, Soho London, W1F OJF

The best in Monday night revelry!

Monday, July 16, 2012 at 7:00pm

SPECIAL GUEST ANNOUNCED… MISS AMELIA KALLMAN Hailing from the stages of New York City, Miss Amelia Kallman is the one and only, internationally acclaimed, Showgirl Comedian. After running the genuine speakeasy spectacular, The Blushing Diamond Revue, in Manhattan with her partner, the famous nightclub designer and impresario, Norman Gosney, the pair set their sights on China, opening Shanghai’s ‘Best New Club 2010′, Chinatown, making them the first people to introduce Asia to the glamorous world of burlesque. She even lead her troupe of ten in the first performance of its kind in a Muslim country, performing in Borneo, Malaysia. Today she lives in London where she leads the chorus line, The London Chinatown Dolls, in the new “ground-breaking” show, When Worlds Collide. She owns The World’s Largest Pastie collection, and has recently completed her memoir, Diary of a Shanghai Showgirl, and is currently writing the other books in what will be a trilogy.

“Masterful comedy” – This is Cabaret.com

*Limited tickets available* You can purchase yours at: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/175305

Tickets: £35 Ticket price includes: 2 course meal Coque an Vin and Tarte au citron (Please when purchasing tickets call 020 7437 1433 to notify us of any dietary requirements)

Half bottle of wine and exquisite entertainment for the evening.

#The Society Club Soho #Miss Amelia #Miss Amelia Kallman #Pete Saunders

Article: The Reasons Behind Detroit’s Decline by Pete Saunders

Photo Credits: www.urbanophile.com

This is an excellent piece by Pete Saunders, a Detroit native who currently works as an urban planner in Chicago, from www.urbanophile.com. I'm not a fan of always reading about the "reasons behind Detroit's decline" (i.e. race/class tensions, white exodus, suburbanization, the fall of the auto industry, etc), because that's usually what writers like to (or know to) focus on and then make a blanket generalization about why Detroit is the way that it is. And, to be candid, it makes me depressed because it's just a long lasting list of negatives and only negatives, with no glimmer of hope left. Pete Saunders, however, writes a great account as to how Detroit's decline started not in its peak of the 1950s, but at the inception of its prosperity at the turn of the 20th century. In other words: planning. Read below.

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

The Reasons Behind Detroit’s Decline by Pete Saunders

My hometown of Detroit has been studied obsessively for years by writers and researchers of all types to gain insight into the Motor City’s decline. Indeed, it seems to have become a favorite pastime for urbanists of all stripes. How could such an economic powerhouse, a uniquely American city, so utterly collapse?

Most analysis tends to focus on the economic, social and political reasons for the downfall. One of my favorite treatises on Detroit is The Origins of the Urban Crisis by Thomas Sugrue, who argues that housing and racial discrimination practices put in place after World War II played a primary role in the decline of Motown. I’d argue that it’s closest to the truth of an explanation for Detroit today, but not quite there.

Everyone seems to know the shorthand narrative for Detroit’s fall. Industrial output declines; racial tensions rise. White residents leave; an unapologetic black leadership assumes control. And there’s quite a bit of truth to that narrative. Yes, the auto industry faced stiff competition, moved jobs to the suburbs, moved jobs down south, and later moved jobs out of the country. And all that happened with fewer jobs at each stop. Yes, Detroit does have a regrettably complex racial history and the legacy of two perception-forming riots since World War II (in 1943 and 1967). Yes, Detroit has had its share of political corruption, often tied to the tumultuous mayoral administrations of Coleman Young and Kwame Kilpatrick.

But here’s the thing. Buffalo and Cleveland have suffered the same kind of economic loss, but have not (quite) fallen to the same depths as Detroit. In fact, Pittsburgh suffered as much economically as Detroit, and is now poised for an amazing Rust Belt comeback. Any number of cities has had as troubled a racial legacy as Detroit, without being as adversely impacted. And Detroit certainly hasn’t cornered the market on political corruption, as long as Chicago exists.

So why has Detroit suffered unlike any other major city? Planning, or the lack thereof for more than a century, is why Detroit stands out. While cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles (don’t laugh – Detroit and LA essentially boomed at the same time) put a premium on creating pleasant built environments for their residents, Detroit was unique in putting all its eggs in the corporate caretaker basket. Once the auto industry became established in Detroit, political and business leaders abdicated their responsibility on sound urban planning and design, and elected to let the booming economy do the work for them.

Detroit’s decline has been going on far longer than most people realize, because of the city’s lack of attention to creating a pleasant built environment. Evidence? A Time Magazine article entitled “Decline in Detroit” from 1961 – yes, 1961 – had the following to say in its opening paragraph:

If ever a city stood as a symbol of the dynamic U.S. economy, it was Detroit. It was not pretty. It was, in fact, a combination of the grey and the garish: its downtown area was a warren of dingy, twisting streets; the used-car lots along Livernois Avenue raised an aurora of neon. But Detroit cared less about how it looked than about what it did—and it did plenty.

Emphasis added.

So what exactly did Detroit get wrong on the planning side of things? I outline nine direct and indirect planning and land use reasons for the Motor City’s current state. Here they are below.

The article is quite long, so read the rest of it here.

#Detroit #urbanophile #Pete Saunders #planning

A very well written post on the decline of Detroit from an urban planning perspective. There were issues already brewing before the auto industry essentially exacerbated them.

#Pete Saunders #Detroit #urban planning