By Joe Darden - Detroit, Race and Uneven Development (Comparative American Cities (1987-12-16) [Hardcover]

Comparative American Cities

by Joe T. Darden

Excellent Book

Genres: History

Hardcover

First published December 1, 1987

About the author

Joe Darden is a professor of geography at Michigan State University (Lansing, MI).

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic scholarly overview of metropolitan Detroit from the 1940s to 1980s. A must-read for anyone interested in Detroit or urban issues.

The central thesis is that the state of Detroit and its region (spatial inequality of industry & commerce, chronic racial & class segregation, regional political fragmentation) is a logical result of trends that gradually escalated throughout the post-World War II era.

Darden & Co. take the perspective that (1) post-war evolution of Detroit must be understood in a regional context and (2) understanding race is essential to comprehend the spatial & political development of the region.

[John Ayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dated in the material (obviously), and the authors blame racists in Detroit more than they blame racists outside of Detroit, which isn't true at all. Recently various state local and federal governments decided to build a new mass transit rail system for Detroit, which will end at the city limits of Detroit. In other words governments outside of Detroit are limiting the travel of people in Detroit to Detroit, which is exactly what happened with the People Mover.