After my explorations of Windsor on October 17, 2008 I headed over to Detroit where I embarked on a driving tour with Jeanette Pierce, co-founder of Inside Detroit, a non-profit organization that offers a wide range of thematic tours of Detroit. From Stroh River Place, a mixed-use development of converted Victorian warehouses, we headed to Belle Isle, Detroits urban island and leisure playground. After a visit to the upscale Indian Village and the Gleaner Food Bank, an example of urban farming, Jeanette took me to the Heidelberg Project, an outdoor art installation that features painted houses and artistic compositions made of discarded items. Artist Tyree Guiton originally conceived this project in the mid 1980s as a protest against the deterioration of his childhood neighbourhood. We were able to catch a brief interview with the creator of this now world-renowned project. After a brief stop at Detroits Eastern Market we drove through Midtown Detroit which is highlighted by various cultural and educational institutions including Wayne State University and the Detroit Institute of Arts. North of there is New Centre, which is distinguished by two 1920s architectural masterpieces: the Fisher Building and Cadillac Place, the former headquarters of General Motors. In the evening I enjoyed a tasty seafood dinner at Sindbads Restaurant which has a great location right on the Detroit River. The Blancke family has been running this restaurant since 1949. Finally, after a long and intense day I headed back to my hotel: the recently reopened Westin Book Cadillac Hotel, a gorgeous Art Deco masterpiece from 1924 that has recently been brought back to glory at a cost of more than $200 million.

Comments

1. Great! Keep it up!
2. That's brilliant. Just an idea: I am starting a balcony garden and an idea to use (with all those bare walls in the background) could be to grow a vertical garden using empty recycled plastic bottles.
3. around here kids smash shite outte deh trees.. tother side of town old people got fruit trees they can't even bend down to pick -up.. life is like taht
4. @dinamo4889 my pal is involved in numerous such projects in new york - it's a hot spot for it . Probably on a smaller scale though!
5. @dinamo4889 actually, we used to do this A LOT in NYC, but the mayor (s) then started to see this as wasted space and valuable property that could be on the tax rolls......soooo POOF went the gardens all over the city where there used to be NO MANS LAND !!!....just look at the movie : THE WARRIORS or the first DEATH WISH to see what i mean.....but when the city got better, EMINENT DOMAIN took the unwanted/ b4 / now nice land back ! so WATCH OUT DETROITERS !!
6. Even if you grow in containers, you might wan to have your soil checked for lead. It can come from peeling paint on any house in your neighborhood built before 1978. I use Avant Environmental, they are cheap and fast.
7. Yes, that's a great idea - I am sure there are lots of people in Detroit who are experts in urban gardening. Or just do a Google search - you will probably pull up some great resources. Good luck!
8. @mopkowski: Yes, they have done some great work in Detroit to find creative uses for the open spaces in their city. Urban agriculture is one of them. A great effort at turning a negative into a positive..
9. @dinamo4889: Yes, it's quite fascinating what some creative people in Detroit have come up with to use all the extra open space. But I think urban farming is a greater trend in many cities across the world. Let's see where it develops...
10. This would be impossible in NYC but while living in Japan I saw gardens on rooftops is this the future?