Modern Ruins .

Modern Ruins
Andre Willers
3 Nov 2011

“Look on my works , ye Mighty , and despair!” Ozymandias by Shelley

Synopsis:
Population decline and technological shifts are creating Ruins of Abandonment in even major centers. These can be positively utilized .

Discussion:

Ruins of Abandonment :
The people simply walk , ride or drive away , leaving it all behind .

This is best illustrated by examples :

Detroit :
http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/
http://www.detroityes.com/home.htm

A Great City tumbling into ruin .
Shades of Angkor Wat , Maya , Aral Sea , Middle East , Zimbabwe , Makgadigadi , Sha'aba , etc

Not primarily due to war .
Resources are mismanaged into extinction . The disgusted citizens vote with their feet .

A falling population (as is the case now in the world except for Africa) means that the ruins are not repopulated . Property cannot be given away , because of the debt-burdens (ie mortgages , rates , taxes , etc , etc)
Not even a slum .

Future Ruins :
Suburbia .
Cheap oil enabled suburbia . This has already come to an end , but the beastie is slower dying than the ham in Hamlet .

Trade centres like New York , London , Hamburg , etc
As populations fall and technology shifts , large areas will become of negative worth . They will simply be abandoned .

A reversal of the decaying CBD .
A declining hi-tech populace will huddle together in the fabulous city centers , surrounded by miles and miles of ruins , where the moans of ghostly landlords whine over the stumps of capitalist crenellations .

Los Angeles is a special case .
It will probably go the way of Detroit . The critical resource is water .

In general , production centers are vulnerable to technological shifts or resource depletion .Eg Detroit , mining ghost towns .
Trading centers are more flexible . But they require markets (ie populations) . As these decrease ,
so does the cities . The Middle East has many examples. (Cf Petra)

Urbanization :
The latest UN statistics indicate that the rural populations have just about achieved steady state .
Any growth in the city is from internal sources .
Large enough conurbations have achieved critical mass , as long as some critical resources like water and fuel are above choke-point levels .
Below those levels , catastrophic ruin formation takes place , regardless of population levels .

Catastrophic ruin formation
Before mass transport and lots of practice in WWI and WWII , this used to mean departure to the next world .
Now , we call them eco-refugees , but at least they are still alive .
See “The Grapes of Wrath” by Steinbeck for a gritty description fast Ruinification due to mismanagement . Note the effect of rapid transport .

Tourism :
Mining memories and misconceptions .
A major money maker for “old” cities like Cairo , Athens , Rome , Istanbul , etc .
Toyota might sponsor tours for their employees to the Ruins of Detroit “pour encourager les autres”
“My grandaddy poured steel here (ie tightened nuts on an assembly line)”
And so forth .

Ruin Parks .
Ruins thus have an income generating value , as long as the are , well , not too ruined .
Areas of Detroit should be set aside and protected like national parks
This should go hand-in-hand with tourist promotion and some judicious rumours .
This has already started .
Academia will not be far behind .

The Hidden Treasures in the ruins of Detroit , New York , whatever .
Make lemonade of that lemon . In the true spirit that gave them the ruins .

Ruin Mining .
There are lots of valuable resources in the ruins . In a depleted world , highly efficient mining techniques (like bio-mining) can recover them . Hence the need of Ruin Parks .

Species adapted to Ruins :
Rats , of course .
Doves , pigeons (bred by humans , then went feral on civilization collapses . Note the lack of evolutionary antecedants and fearlessness of humans)
Cyotes , foxes
Etc .

This is a very large field . It will be of great interest to Green geneticists in producing species that would survive a human population crash , but still maintain ecological support for the surviving humans . (Your battery hen is not exactly going to hack it)

See “The Mote in Gods Eye” by Larry Niven . It gives a good view of the effects of many cycles of civilization crashes .


Immigration :
The human race has had a lot of experience with catastrophic depopulation , but little of managed depopulation .Hence the present love-hate relationship in the US towards Middle-Americans , or Europe towards Turks or Africans .

The Western depopulation has not yet begun to bite . But it is exponential in reverse . Market oriented economies will need to replenish their markets . Repopulate the ruins .

An ironic turnabout .
The rejected inconvenient boulder has become the corner-stone .

The melancholy pleasure of Ruins .
As long as you are not looking into a mirror of the future .

Andre

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