Detroit Wildlife

A friend linked me to this great video about Detroit’s transformation from industrial boom town to ghost city called Detroit Wildlife. Images of high rise buildings sitting vacant and desolate street corners leave you with a post-apocalyptic sensation (the shots of Michigan Central Station in particular) like something out of 28 Days Later.

A month ago I would have assumed Detroit’s situation is a rarity on the American landscape. Surprisingly though, on trip through California last August I discovered a similar scenario in Fresno. Sunday afternoon in the middle of July and downtown Fresno was absolutely dead. No one on the streets, businesses were closed (many were shuttered completely) and an unshakable feeling of abandonment lingered in the air. You could perhaps chalk it up to the 114 degree heat, but when we left the core in search of food and supplies, we found a very active suburban area on the periphery of downtown. Walking around the desolate core left me feeling very anxious and vulnerable, as if Mad Max himself was going to rise up and rob me of my precious petrol and worldly belongings.

Detroit Wildlife from florent tillon on Vimeo.