Detroit. Demolition. Disneyland.

Detroit is one of the most striking and well known examples of urban blight and “white flight” in North America. Many, many buildings are abandoned and decaying, and neighbourhood blocks cleared of houses by arson or demolished by the city have become sort of “urban prairies“.

Starting last winter, before the Super Bowl landed in Detroit, an anonymous group called the D.D.D. (Detroit Demolition Disneyland) Project, began to paint the facades of some abandoned and decaying homes with bright orange paint, calling attention to the process of decay in the city.

To me, as a long-time Torontonian with a very different experience of “downtown”, this urban decay is striking enough in itself — but the people behind the D.D.D. Project obviously feel the need to call more attention the the Detroit situation. From an anonymous statement:

Each of these houses serves within the greater visual and social landscape of the city. If the city doesn’t rebuild, will it be better to have nothing there rather than an abandoned house? In addition, each of these houses served as a shelter for the homeless at some point in time….

“Our goal is to make everyone look at not only these houses, but all the buildings rooted in decay and corrosion. If we can get people to look for our orange while driving through the city, then they will at the same time, be looking at all the decaying buildings they come across. This brings awareness. And as we have already seen, awareness brings action.”