rban Limmer (2)whites fled to the suburbs after WWII, with the immigrants, blacks, and rural dwellers moving in. The economy switched from an industrial economy to a post-industrial or service economy, with the older factories being replaced by smaller factories (computers, airplanes, appliances), requiring higher skilled workers. In effect these new factories were located outside the city in the suburbs. The central city would be left with nothing, and virtually no opportunities of any magnitude. Detroit is a city that I believe can be identified as the city which went through the greatest amount of change, being heavily relied on one industry. During the first half of the twentieth century, Detroit was probably the most economically booming city in the United States. Since about 1950, Detroit has gone from Aarsenal of democracy@, having one of the fastest growing populations and was home to the highest paid working-class workers as well, to losing nearly 1 million people. Many jobs were also lost with many business leaving the city of today empty and sometimes complete city blocks left completely empty. Detroit has also been home to a host of infrastructure woes, as can be reflected in many other cities in the Industrial Belt of the northeast with decaying roads, sewers, and other physical features.What could cause a city to go from such a center of economic activity to a decayed, depopulated, and unemployed? Where did all of the poor come from? Why has racism played such a powerful role in Detroit the last fifty years? What happened to all of the activity and where did it move to? First, I will discuss the period before the great suburbanization process began, to get an idea of what type of shape the city was in. Then I will discuss how Detroit and it=s central city suffered from the process of suburbanization, movement of center of economic activity into counties to the north like Oakland, Macomb, and Livingston. Subur...
