Image by Yves Marchand

An ambitious Detroit entrepreneur has launched a campaign to turn the abandoned neighborhoods and ruins of Detroit into ‘Z World’. Mark Siwak put forward his unusual proposals on the internet funding platform IndieGoGo.com hoping to raise $145,000 to transform a virtually neglected section of Detroit, Michigan into a zombie themed experience park by the summer of 2013.

On his IndieGogo page he writes:

“There are few places where something like this would be possible and Detroit is one of them.  In the past 50 years, the city has lost 60% of its population and its industrial might has crumbled.  This has left major swaths of the city abandoned or severely underpopulated, with neighborhoods, homes and factories left to crumble… There are formal proposals to essentially abandon some of Detroit’s neighborhoods. That’s not a solution. Collectively we must be more creative than that”. 

There’s also a promotional video for the project and although a little amateur, the research and ideas and clearly all there…

Watch the clip:

As an enthusiast of both zombies and spooky abandoned buildings, I think it’s a pretty exciting proposal. Of course, I’m not sure how I feel about amusement park logos being slapped on the spectacular ruins of Detroit but if it means doing a basic restoration on certain buildings to make them more safe, creating jobs and injecting new life into a neighborhood, why wouldn’t it be a positive thing?

As for the zombie experience: “To be a true ‘experience’, this must be immersive,” says Mark, “designed to last overnight where you are sequestered in Z World Detroit.  For that time, Z World Detroit will be your world, while you forget about any other problems.  You will be chased.  You will hide.  You will hunt.   You will have an experience you will never forget.”

Mark has so far raised over $3,000 and while reaching $145,000 before his deadline on August 10th might seem like a steep hill to climb, zombie enthusiasts worldwide may just help him get there. With The Walking Dead bringing in the highest ratings on television last season, real life zombie-like attacks being reported in the news and  zombie experiences starting to pop up all over the world, our appetite for the undead is far from over. Even if Mark Siwak’s doesn’t succeed with his particular proposals, we all know the zombie amusement park is inevitable.

Images via here and here

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