Yea don't get me wrong, I'm all about people coming into communities and trying to make a difference, provided they are actually trying to contribute.
As far as the squat scene, I have no idea. I've see it a bit here and there in Chicago (artist kids illegally living in storefronts). I do know that regular people end up doing most of the leg work in the U.S. for this kind of thing before officials catch on or are convinced to help. Occasionally developers will give rental discounts to people in the arts when they are trying to build up 'artist neighborhoods' to drive up business, and eventually housing prices. It's a mixture of things happening organically, and then business/political interests becoming involved in order to profit. Neighborhood 'cycles' are a fascinating subject, though, and unfortunately what is considered blighted or bad more often than not is just replaced with white and expensive. Gentrification is happening pretty fast in many U.S. cities, with things headed more towards a Paris-style model of the wealthy living inside the city and the poor pushed to the outlaying city suburbs. It's happening -extremely- fast in D.C., and many Chicago neighborhoods are becoming barely recognizable from 5-10 years ago. Very OT but it's an exciting subject. -Art On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 10:22 AM, Odeluga, Ken <ken.odel...@dowjones.com> wrote: > > It seems like time for some of this: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7aSypQmLRA > > Albeit sounds more and more ironic every year, to me anyway ...... > > -----Original Message----- > From: Robert Taylor [mailto:rdtay...@channel4.co.uk] > Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 4:13 PM > To: kent williams; Arturo Lopez > Cc: Three-One-Three > Subject: RE: (313) OT: Nice article about the current state of "journalism" > about the D > > Berlin was in ruins and became a haven for artists. > This kind of regeneration has happened in parts of London too. > It would be great if it could happen in Detroit. > Is there much of a squat scene in the US? > In London and some parts of Britain, local councils have begun to encourage > arts collectives to occupy empty shops to encourage people to visit > 'declining' neigbourhoods. > This is in Herne Hill, which is near to Brixton in London: > http://www.liveattheapollo.org/ > But it's happening all over: > http://artistsandmakers.com/staticpages/index.php/emptyshops > > Rob Taylor > VT Librarian > x8599 > Hatch Desk x1088 > VT Library Users' Guide > > -----Original Message----- > From: kent williams [mailto:chaircrus...@gmail.com] > Sent: 26 November 2009 15:47 > To: Arturo Lopez > Cc: Three-One-Three > Subject: Re: (313) OT: Nice article about the current state of "journalism" > about the D > > I don't think there would be anything wrong at all if people moved to > Detroit to do art, or urban farming or whatever. Places where people > can live cheaply and have room to work are essential for the creation > of new art. > > I don't think 'ruin porn' is very useful if that's all it is. But if > you spend any time in Detroit, the ruination is pretty inescapable. To > me it feels less like ruins and more like fallow land, as though all > it's waiting for is the right spark. > > Beyond both these ideas -- Detroit as lurid icon of urban decay, and > as unrealized potential -- there's something that the rest of the > world tends to ignore, which is that Detroit has real people living > there across the whole spectrum of human experience -- the desparate, > the scary, the hopeful, the evil and the good. And somehow every > 'good' thing that comes to Detroit doesn't really reach down to help > the poorest of the poor. > > On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 1:15 AM, Arturo Lopez <arturo.m.lo...@gmail.com> > wrote: >> http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n8/htdocs/something-something-something-detroit-994.php?page=1 >> >> Very funny article about Detroit "ruin porn" and all the cleverly >> cropped photos to make everything look depressing when outside >> journalists come to the city. >> >> I loved the line about a "bunch of "Billyburg hipsters" moving to the >> city to start urban farms. Mostly because this is an actual dream of >> my girlfriend, and I can now use this to tease her that no one wants >> her to move in to their hood and start an urban farm. haha. >> >> -Art >> > ##################################################################################### > Note: > > Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily > represent > those of Channel Four Television Corporation unless specifically stated. This > email > and any files transmitted are confidential and intended solely for the use of > the > individual or entity to which they are addressed. 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