Detroit Techno is a genre within electronic music that came to life in the midst of Detroit's postapocalyptic urban decay in the 1980'ies. As so the Detroit techno culture reflects cultural circumstances and tendencies that have affected the desolated and abandoned state Detroit City is in today. I will examine the relation between Detroit Techno as a subculture and the postindustrial space of Detroit. Detroit's history have been very turbulent. With the development of the car industry the city became the fastest growing city in the world but soon after Second World War the city began shrinking. The change of especially three various conditions had an impact on Detroit’s future development. These are the American dream, the deindustrialization, and the discriminating political conditions including segregation and racial discrimination that all lead to the neglect and decay of Detroit.

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The conditions mentioned above also affected the techno culture in Detroit. Within their techno-futuristic universe and post-human aesthetics they were able to escape the harsh realities of the postindustrial society in a nostalgic search for a futurist past.

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This aesthetic, called afrofuturism, is a cultural movement within literature, science-fiction, music including techno etc. The alienating and dystopian affects of the environment in Detroit caused a lack of identity and decreased individual freedom as well. The techno music and culture was therefore of utopian character as it provided a belief in a better future focused on individual freedom. Through for example the afrofuturistic radio host The Electrifying Mojo outsiders of the society, the African American communities, found a place for their future hopes, identity and status.

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The techno culture has expressed a certain resistance towards society, but this resistance seems at the same time to reveal an emphasis on the power of the individual and utopian visions more than an actual wish for revolution. The Detroit techno culture still exists in Detroit and though it might have changed certain values the hope for a brighter future an utopia is still alive in the midst of Detroit dystopia. It also seems to keep alive rooted American values. What is then more important: individualism or equality? What is todays message of Detroit techno vs. European techno? Is there still a dream behind, is there still a fight for equality?