Irrigate Detroit

Abstract

City Stereotypes:

Stereotypes, pre-conceived notions, and reputations that cities have received is unquestionably not objective, and a sense of ignorance is hence derived, especially from those people who have not been there or one who drew a conclusion after a short visit there. Unfair and ill-informed conclusions taint the way the public views the specific city, and deters from the truth, due to social media reports and selective coverage. With my thesis research, my facebook page “City Thoughts”, offers a wide variety of what people think about certain cities across our nation, which may have developed a reputation over the years. The first city I put on the page was Detroit, and asked people for their honest opinions and to not hold anything back. I received a lot of great feedback, in which people created a conversation/banter back and forth with each other with what they agreed upon, and what they didn’t. It became a debate on this page which was very beneficial with my understanding of where people derive their opinions and stereotypes from. It was also great because I am friends with people from around the country on facebook, not just Michigan, so it definitely included cross-country people’s opinions. To have people of all social and geographic demographics promotes valid exploration of the various types of thoughts and stereotypes people may have about the specific cities. On facebook, I had the city topics of Detroit, Los Angeles, and Seattle so far, and I’ve had some great feedback along with constant active participation. My goal was to determine and analyze the thoughts and notions that people from all around the US and Michigan, of all ages, determined about these cities so I could further prove the validity of my thesis. I also interviewed residents of Detroit, along with non-residents, and found some interesting, yet predictable information. I interviewed a resident who lives 2 houses down from me on Fairfield Ave, In Detroit. I started by asking about their personal experiences with Detroit, and what their opinion on the city is, and what it was. This resident was 64 years old, and has lived here his whole life. He informed me that Detroit is a” weathered city, yet a hard-working location, with an impeccable amount of potential for further, beneficial development. “ I expected a positive answer when I interview a long time resident of Detroit, based on the fact that he is STILL a resident of Detroit, and has been there his whole life. The next question I asked him threw him for a loop, and it was what he thought of Los Angeles. He responded with “Movie stars, superficiality, rich, money everywhere, fake, plastic surgery.” Granted, he had never traveled to Los Angeles, he still had these qualms about the city due to the fact of what the social media has portrayed L.A to be. To continue my thesis exploration, I interviewed my friend Mike, who lives in North Hollywood. As I did for the Detroit resident, I asked him what he thought of L.A, and he responded with “lively, urban sprawl, stimulated economy, tradition, architectural elegance.” Again, this information was not very surprising, based on him living there his whole life. I then asked him about Detroit, again him never having been there. He responded with “Black people, crime, guns, drugs, gray weather, corrupt, broke, and fossilized”. He obviously has been influenced with what the social media has impregnated his mind with, and his personal stereotypes were then formulated. The resident from Detroit, and Mike from L.A both are victims of social media influence, which then pushed them to formulate personal notions, qualms, and stereotypes, which of course are not deserving of each city. This is a small example of what happens everywhere across the nation with a multiplicity of cities. My next step my thesis would be in the direction of continuing the “City Thoughts” facebook page, along with determining what cities to choose. I need to decipher what cities pull the most relevance with respect to pre-conceived notions and stereotypes. I want to get in touch with firms and organizations that help with the stopping of stereotypes, and promote education. For example I used the Eminem Superbowl Commercial and how effective that was in about 2 minutes showing the nation the truth about Detroit, and shedding a positive light on it, which therefore promoted respect and the stopping of ill-informed stereotypes. In the end, I know I want to develop a precise network of traveling cities across America, to promote the education on that specific city, so the nation becomes more knowledgeable of its own history, so ultimately stereotypes will be put to rest, and education will prevail. Each city will have a set location that all the other cities will occupy for a set amount of time, bringing urban relics, imagery, pieces of the city, and get to experience people from that city that travel along with the city. This unveils objective truth about that specific city while in another city, so its almost as if cities travel to other cities in a set location. Each city that travels will occupy the set location/building in their own specific way, so that the differing use of space that the “curator” displays would be a phenomenon in itself.