Detroit, Michigan and The Heidelberg Project

A few weeks ago, we visited Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan to do a story shoot for Country Gardens.

Both places are amazing in their heavily contrasting ways.  Overall, Michigan is beautiful and amazing.

Blight is a description I recall mainly.  Abandonment, arson, industrialization, and declination were all first impressions to me.  It's easy to judge, but if one looks at the bigger picture you can see this city is full of vibrancy. The true story is Detroit was built for over 1.85 million people, and has fallen to a population of less than 700,000.   NBC's news quoted 90,000 abandoned buildings in 2012.  Needless to say, many challenging issues have developed in Detroit. From a mecca to a mercenary, this once thriving industrial giant has taken a knee while enduring one of the largest population declines the U.S. has ever seen.

To me, Detroit has an immense beauty.  It's abandonment tells a story of an industrial revolution gone terribly awry, but from this revolution's fall, a phoenix may yet emerge . . . 
When a city is left with nearly nothing, something will happen.  As human beings, when we are stripped of everything, and left with nothing, we find a way to survive and to grow.

Detroit's art revolution is now being watched closely, and their mayor, Dave Bing, has a plan to tear down abandoned buildings, to bring people closer together.  For hopes to build a better and stronger community.

We stopped in a neighborhood which is focused on "found objects" installed on Heidelberg Street, the neighborhood and its houses called "The Heidelberg Project".  Only a few houses on the street were occupied, one being the house of the artist's Mother.  

For more information and to answer further questions on The Heidelberg Project  

click here

Documentaries about Detroit, the Auto Industry, and it's present and future

"Roger and Me" Directed by Michael Moore, 1989
To view whole film 
https://youtu.be/gOwXkstRaBw

"Detropia"
See Trailer Below




For more photos of Detroit's background story...

NY TIMES Detroit Decline

More info on Detroit's artist community
Detroit Artist You Should Know



Urban Farming in Detroit is one of the next big things for its economy and sustainability.

Here is a commercial for Upside and Ford.



Art and Urban Farming are current uplifting factors for Detroit, its economy and its people.

For more stories on Urban Farming in Detroit, skip directly to 45min mark for story and reason why Urban Farming is so important to Detroit.