A city in the world’s richest country that can count more modern ruins than any other.
This is Detroit, Michigan, where several areas of the officially bankrupt city – once so dependent on the automobile industry – resemble scenes from disaster movies.
There are said to be 40,000 abandoned buildings here. Detroit, however, is unlikely to take a leaf from Pyramiden’s book. This is the former Soviet coal town off the Norwegian coast that, complete yet abandoned since 1998, has now opened a hotel for fans of Soviet “ghost towns”.
Ruins do indeed hold an enduring appeal as they have done for tourists since they became fashionable in the late 18th Century. It is not always easy, sane or even right to rebuild ruined buildings, much as we are tempted to do so whether for art, nostalgia or economic gain.