This is the cover of a large format 'arty' hardback book of photos of urban decay in Detroit, America's motor city, published in France as Détroit, vestiges du rêve américain, and available in English as The Ruins of Detroit. The picture is of one of the buildings and is printed on a kind of imitation cloth, thus "touchy feely".
Detroit is actually just one of many places in the US where economic changes were handled by walking away; not only obsolete auto factories, facilities including apartment buildings, theatres schools, were just abandoned. But unlike other places, Detroit's deterioration is quite central. The population today is less than half the 1.8 million it was in 1950.
The two French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre present a fascinating selection of urban deterioration, although it is not meant to portray all of Detroit, just where the winds of change were at their worst, the hardest hit neighbourhoods and their factories. Their photographs were created with large format cameras using an extensive depth of field, and most of their subject matter is clearly seen, revealing a ponderous amount of detail. You wonder what the economics are that can allow people to just walk away and build anew, versus reinvesting in infrastructure already in place.
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