Wellston Loop reader (and dear friend) Bryan Bowen (owner of Bryan Bowen Architects) sent me a link to a Grist article that I highly recommend.
“Trust in the Rust Belt: This Is Flint, Michigan, in All Its Pain and All Its Glory” is an evocative thought piece on the fading “Vehicle City.” Author Wes Janz, a professor of architecture at Ball State University, leads students on tours of Flint and other Rust Belt cities, East St. Louis among them.
Janz opens the article with a series of provocative questions:
“How many abandoned buildings should I photograph and take others to photograph before we get the picture? How many houses do you have to see being torn from a city’s fabric before the tearing of one life from another no longer registers? When should you stop, or start, caring?”
The rest of the article mourns the passing of the old Flint, highlighting two student projects that reflect on the automotive city’s decline – the Flint that “was.” Ultimately, however, the article moves to a focus on three current Flint residents – Keith, Adam, and Wendy – and considers the Flint that “is.”
I’m tempted to quote the entire article (it’s that good), but instead I’ll simply recommend that Wellston Loop readers take a look at it too.
For more from Janz and his students, see the Midwess Distress Tour – a gallery of powerful photographs documenting the Rust Belt’s demise.