The Motown Sound Came From Single-Family Homes

Would the Motor City have produced Motown without pianos in every living room?

2 minute read

October 22, 2015, 8:00 AM PDT

By Emily Calhoun


Wild Detroit

"The history of American music was literally shaped by the single family housing character of Detroit," writes Aaron M. Renn. 

David Maraniss's new book, Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story, points to the signs of decline as early as 1963 when the city was in its economic and artistic heyday. (As Adam Gopnik keenly describes it in The New Yorker, "Humpty Dumpty's most poignant moment [was] just before he toppled over.") But here Renn zeroes in on a housing lesson that runs counterintuitive to today's thinking about urban planning. The single-family homes of Detroit allowed working- and middle-class families to accommodate pianos; and the piano was the springboard for the great musical energy that would become known around the world as Motown.

Renn cautions against making too much of the connection. "As Gordy was founding Motown, Jane Jacobs was pointing out the trouble with Detroit’s 'gray belts' of single families that were already being abandoned." Certainly, Detroit was not the only city of its time with a predominance of single-family homes. Gopnik points to in-group competition, as studied by art historian E.H. Gombrich, as a likely cause of such renaissance, likening it more to 13th-century Florence than other Rust Belt cities. "If Detroit got it worse, it was partly because it had it better," Gopnik writes.

Renn's point is that cities would do well to think creatively about their unique sets of constraints and circumstances. "What this suggests is that cities shouldn’t despair too much about their existing built form, even if in many cases they are struggling with it. The question might be, what does that form enable that you can’t get elsewhere?"

Tuesday, October 13, 2015 in Urbanophile

View form second story inside Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota with escalators and model cars parked on downstairs floor.

The Mall Is Dead — Long Live the Mall

The American shopping mall may be closer to its original vision than ever.

March 21, 2024 - Governing

View of Austin, Texas skyline with river in foreground during morning golden hour.

The Paradox of American Housing

How the tension between housing as an asset and as an essential good keeps the supply inadequate and costs high.

March 26, 2024 - The Atlantic

Houston, Texas skyline.

Report: Las Vegas, Houston Top List of Least Affordable Cities

The report assesses the availability of affordable rental units for low-income households.

March 22, 2024 - Urban Edge

Close-up of hand holding charging cable moving toward charging port on electric car.

Undoing Biden's EV Rule

The partisan divide over how government should reduce greenhouse gas emissions was on full display after the Biden administration finalized its emissions standards rule for light and medium duty vehicles on March 20.

23 minutes ago - Office of U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan

Aerial view of high-rise buildings on waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts

Boston Moves Zoning Reform Forward

The ‘Squares + Streets’ plan creates form-based zoning templates for neighborhoods that promote mixed use and denser housing near transit.

1 hour ago - The National Law Review

Aerial view of Anchorage, Alaska downtown with mountains in background at golden hour.

Anchorage Leaders Debate Zoning Reform Plan

Last year, the city produced the fewest new housing units in a decade.

March 28 - Anchorage Daily News

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.