THINKING FOR OURSELVES

Restoring Space

By Shea Howell

Michigan Citizen, June 10-16, 2007

One of the gifts of living in Detroit is an appreciation of space. Detroiters learn quickly that space sends messages. How space is used or not used matters in deeply symbolic ways. Space is about more than filling something up or tearing it down. Space holds a sense of our values.

For nearly 100 years the General Motors building in the New Center area in midtown Detroit dominated the city. Its square, massive bulk filled a city block and supported the GM trademark, punctuating the skyline. When GM moved dowtown to the Ren Cen, displacing Ford, the message of domination and change was clear to everyone.

The Ren Cen itself, built in the early 70s, was the first of the Downtown Development initiatives to physically embody the disdain economic strategists have for the ordinary people of our city. Constructed like a medieval castle behind a huge wall, it emphasized the separation between the Ren Cen and the people of Detroit. The message to Detroiters was "You're not welcome here." Those behind the wall were warned "Keep away from the streets of Detroit. They are unsafe." GM's tearing down that wall and opening up the public space between its building, the street, and the river have been a welcome shift in this image.

Meanwhile, the tensions between those of us who live in the city and those who drive in to work or for services has been accentuated by the creation of parking structures connected to office buildings by giant feeding tubes. These tubes, high in the air, make it possible for suburbanites to work in the city without ever having to set foot on a Detroit street. This spatial separation has exacerbated a deep distrust between the city and the suburbs.

A walk through any neighborhood reveals the connection between space and memory. Homes we visited are no longer standing. Rooms, once the site of our most intimate moments, are exposed for all to see.

Detroiters understand space. So it came as no surprise that last week the Pentagon had the firm of BDY remove its plans for the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad from its website. The government cited security as the reason for withdrawing the sketches. But Bush does not want the magnitude of this project known.

BDY is a design firm, known for casinos. Baghdad is its first embassy. The colossal project, located in the heart of the Green Zone, is costing $592 million dollars and will require an estimated additional $1.2 billion per year to run. Scheduled to open in September with a crew of 1,000 officials plus a supporting staff of food service workers, pool keepers, teachers, health care personnel and marine guards, this will be the largest and most fortified U.S. embassy anywhere in the world. Yet, people are unable to walk about the site without flak jackets and helmets. Increasing mortar and missile fire have demonstrated that even this fortified bunker, representing the center of U.S. power, is simply unsafe.

The messages behind this use of space are clear. First, the Bush administration and those who share its world-view have no intention of leaving Iraq. They are prepared to commit to a long-term military presence for generations to come. Second, this presence will be on terms that represent the worst excesses of U.S. power, without regard for the people around it. While children lack water, we fill swimming pools.

Stopping this war is not only bringing home troops. It is refusing to distort the places that belong to people of another country. We need to remove this embassy from the ground, not just the web-site.

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