We Have Sound 20.12

I visited Detroit a little over eight years ago, an inspiring place at an important time in its history – shortly before the city filed for bankruptcy in 2013. The cities population had been in steady decline since the collapse of the industry that the motor industry was built for.

It is important to be careful about fetishising the crumbling of Detroit; for many residents for whom Detroit was a place to call home the fact that the city was in flux would have been a source of at best friction, and at worst desolation. But Detroit seems to have an enduring ability to overcome adversity and to build from the ground up. For some, the collapse of the economy had brought about the opportunity for a new way of life; Freed from the burden of the usual expense of city living – and with an abundance of unused spaces around them they had begun to grow things there.

At this time the transformation of the landscape was captivating and my interest was largely aesthetic. Retrospectively, having spent more time growing food to eat myself, and having read about farms and farming I see it differently – less about a hopeful but dystopian juxtaposition and more about a re-tuning of our relationship with the most fundamental parts of our living.

Detroit perhaps more than anywhere embodies the hapless use of resources of the last century, and of our arrogance in trying to shape the environment around our wants. But what emerged amongst the concrete of decaying grand buildings, factories and once neat suburbs of an ailing city showed how we could grow food close to home. It also shows that given the time and the space doing so is something that people are drawn to do; and are nourished by.