In early December this year, the U.S. court officially approved the bankruptcy case of Detroit, making Detroit the largest bankrupt city in the United States. In fact, Detroit also had a glorious golden age in the past. In the 1950s, thanks to the boom of the U.S. automobile industry, Detroit became the fourth largest city in the United States, and its home ownership rate and median income ranked highest in the country. However, as the automobile industry gradually moves production out of Mexico and other places with lower costs, Detroit, which is economically over-reliant on a single industry, is destined to decline.
Through the Street View time machine function of Google Maps, the differences between the past and present in the same area are recorded in detail. It can be clearly seen how Detroit was dragged down by the economy after the 2008 financial tsunami, leading to malignant population migration and financial deterioration. The cycle, the slow process of becoming a ghost town. Today, although Detroit is able to reorganize its finances and debts under bankruptcy protection, and as the U.S. economy strengthens, it can somewhat boost the local economy. But just like good medicine, the process of any structural reform is always bitter. Its long and painful, and there are no shortcuts, so... lets hope that one day, with our Street View time machine, we can record Detroits long road to recovery!
