DETROIT, Feb. 1, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Cityscape Detroit is a non-profit group devoted to good urban planning, the rehabilitation of old buildings, investment, greenspaces, mass transit, pedestrian friendliness and the "built environment" in Detroit.
The world is in the midst of the Information Revolution. It is just important to mankind as the previous Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. The Internet continues to rapidly grow in size, value and use.
Traffic to Cityscape's Web site continues to grow. The site got more than 8,000 page views in December of 2005. People from around Michigan, the United States and the world hit Cityscape's Web site when they are looking for information about Detroit. In the past couple of weeks, the group has gotten e-mails from people from Troy, Lansing, New York, and the Netherlands. Analyzing traffic information shows that visitors come from all countries including Germany, France, New Zealand, and the Seychelles.
In response to all of this, Cityscape has just added pictures to its Web site. Now, each Web page's header is composed of three 3" x 4" images of a Detroit neighborhood, building, rehabilitation project, or urban planning or architecture concept. They aren't minimized like images in headers usually are - they are big and an important part of the site. The goal isn't so much to promote the group as it is to promote the city. There are about 60 photos in all.
Now, flipping through Cityscape's Web site is like taking a tour of Detroit. There are pictures of hip areas like Greektown and Mexicantown, skyscrapers like the Renaissance Center and 150 W. Jefferson, buildings designed by famous architects like John Burgee and Daniel Burnham, historic districts like Ferry Street and Corktown, rehabilitation projects like the Women's Exchange building and Merchants Row, construction projects like One Kennedy Square and the Ellington Lofts, public spaces like the Riverwalk and Campus Martius, and concepts like urban planning and infrastructure.
It may be the best Web site about Detroit on the Internet. No other site has so many big pictures that show the city broadly. "No other Web site conveys such a 'sense of place'," said Chris Garland, board member of Cityscape.
The URL is www.cityscapedetroit.org
It is great art: it is aesthetically pleasing and serves an important social purpose.
"We are going to see if we measure how many college graduates move into the city to start the next phase of their life and do the 'big city thing,' how many empty-nesters buy a condo in the city, how many more tourists come to visit, how many more old buildings are fixed-up, and how many more restaurants and shops are opened because of the new Cityscape Detroit Web site," said Andrew Koper, Cityscape officer and designer of the site.