Detroit's Airport City: Planes, Trains, And Promise

"Black lines trace an L-shaped swath of ground roughly bounded by Willow Run Airport on the west, Detroit Metropolitan Airport on the south, Michigan Avenue on the north, and Inkster and Taylor to the east. More important, the lines trace a revolutionary plan to revive southeast Michigan's economy and reverse Detroit's 50-year population decline.

The idea is to build neighborhoods that will attract talented people and innovative businesses from around the world and to build the transportation infrastructure -- commuter rail, light rail, and rapid bus lines -- that will enable people, goods, and ideas to swiftly cross the region and circle the globe. Airport City would be a crossroads of regional, national, and international commerce and a great place to live, work, and play.

The Airport City that exists on a map -- and in the imaginations of influential dreamers around the region -- is a major departure from business-as-usual in Detroit. But that may be exactly what the region needs."