<nettime> The ultimate anti-urban shrink fix: go Zombie!

Patrice Riemens on Sat, 14 Jul 2012 05:10:59 +0200 (CEST)

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<nettime> The ultimate anti-urban shrink fix: go Zombie!

To: nettime-l@kein.org
Subject: <nettime> The ultimate anti-urban shrink fix: go Zombie!
From: "Patrice Riemens" <patrice@xs4all.nl>
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2012 09:35:34 +0200
User-agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.18

bwo Le Monde

original to:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/abandoned-parts-of-detroit-may-be-turned-into-a-zombie-theme-park

Abandoned parts of Detroit may be turned into a zombie theme park
Natt Garun July 11, 2012 By Natt Garun

An ambitious Indiegogo project wants to convert abandoned parts of Detroit
into a zombie theme park. Good idea, or too unrealistic?

Detroit, Michigan is a notorious city with a not-so-stellar reputation
despite perfectly livable suburbs. Now, an artist on Indiegogo is asking
for your help to consider turning his project into reality by transforming
parts of an abandoned neighborhood in Detroit into a zombie theme park ?
just in time for you to make use of the $24,000 zombie survival kit we saw
yesterday.

Currently called the Z World Detroit, campaign leader Mark Siwak wants to
do something about the city?s plan to formally abandon these neighborhoods
by turning them into something more fun and constructive. The neglected
parts of Detroit makes for a perfect setting since they contain many run
down homes and abandoned buildings amidst an urban landscape. This puts
visitors in a realistic surrounding ? just add some zombie actors to
reenact some viral outbreak.

The plan aims for visitors to be able to run and hide from zombies, search
for food and supplies (still vague on what this means, but Siwak states
there will be no weapons), and scour for other survivors. Each player get
patches that get tear away for each misstep they take, and if they lose
all the patches, they must join the zombie horde. Proceeds from the theme
park will go to a city funding to demolish abandoned buildings scattered
throughout Detroit. Wonder if zombie makeup is included if you succumb to
the apocalypse?

?The Z World Detroit initiative is a radical rethinking of urban
redevelopment and Detroit?s well-documented blight and de-population,? the
Indiegogo page reads. ?It turns perceived liabilities into assets that
will bring a renewed vitality to a struggling neighborhood.?

Siwak warns, however, that although the idea might sound interesting, this
is still just a concept. Funding the project does not promise that Z World
Detroit will actually come to fruition, but can get some developers
interested in proposing the actual creation of the park.

?While zombies are great, the real neat thing about this project is the
potential to inject some life into a forgotten neighborhood ? with the
opportunity to work with neighborhood groups and organization,? Siwak
writes. ?In short, Z World Detroit would become part of the neighborhood,
the center of the neighborhood, rather than something sitting outside the
neighborhood.?

Sounds like a creative way to make use of an abandoned space, if you ask
us! As long as the abandoned buildings are converted to be safe for
tourists, visitors, and are kept gated for non-operational hours, we don?t
see why this concept couldn?t be further developed into real life. Who
knows, perhaps Z World Detroit would be the first park in the midwest
everyone will want to go to on their next vacation. Let?s just hope it
looks a bit better than these amateur illustrations for the time being.

The project is currently funded at about $7,600 of the $145,000 goal with
Friday, August 10 as the last day to contribute. Any amount will help, but
if you want an admission to the park (if it ever comes to life), you?ll
need to shell out at least $100 in support of the project.