Detroit from Atop the RenCen + More

[LMich]

Some pretty interesting photos I found by gab482 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gab482/)

Looking up Grand River



Broadway (right center)



Brush Street





Cadillac Square



Comerica Tower at One Detroit Center



And more...

[urbanpln]

I really like this city. I spent 3 days in Detroit in October 2006. It was during the World Series. I was with a fellow Urban Planner who grew up there. We toured the city for 8 eight hour one of the days. Although Detroit has more than its share of troubled neighborhoods, it is still a great city. Its lost much of its vibrancy but, is making an effort to bring it back. I was really impressed with Eastern Market, Belle Isle, architecture in the downtown area (collection of pre 1940 buildings) and the people were very friendly. There was more diversity than what I expected (Mexicans, Middle Easterners, Greeks, African Americans). The potential is there. I hope this city makes a come back soon.

[jodelli]

Some of those are stunning. Makes me wanna get high(altitude not attitude).

[peanut gallery]

Great find. Some really interesting views from up there.

[subterranean]

Nice finds. Some of these are quite a bit older as indicated by the construction on Washington.

One of my favorite things about the Detroit skyline is that since the roads were laid out in spokes, some views of the buildings look as though there is no method to their orientation. It's a nice change from the grid that most American cities have.

Exhibit A:

[Michi]

Detroit's layout definitely makes it unique in its own way. I just think having an extensive "urban" grid at least for a good number of blocks outside of a Central Business District makes for a nice, efficient layout for urban development based on the thoroughfare and traffic flow plan.

It's got to be difficult in downtown Detroit to really plan for high density street usage considering everything is jumbled together in a hodge podge of street and mobility layout. I love the pattern, but is it the most efficient? Probably not.

That being said, I think downtown Detroit is one of the best examples of a "sense of place" that I've ever been, and a lot of that has to do with the layout, as inefficient as it may be. I think if the city can focus on that as its urbanity grows, more and more people will find that as an attraction to being or living downtown...they would have a unique place of their own unlike many other cities around the world. And that is what has been shown people desire.