With its recent bankruptcy filing, Detroit has a plethora of challenges ahead of it. But the city is well positioned for growth, argue Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley, which will be as important for the city's renewal as fixing its fiscal problems.
"The good news, lost amidst the screaming headlines over bankruptcy, is that market momentum in Detroit’s core is real and palpable and provides a strong foundation for future growth," observe Katz and Bradley. "In fact, the broadly supported Detroit Future City plan provides an excellent blueprint for growth and investment. Now is not the time for investors outside Detroit merely to observe or monitor the dramatic intervention of the state and the bankruptcy process. Rather, this is the time to engage in a productive and creative fashion," they urge.
The authors survey the many promising initiatives that are providing Detroit with "a surge of private and civic investment and business and residential growth," and suggest how they can be leveraged to continue the city's "market momentum".
"For generations, Detroit has had a strong emotional pull on our nation—as the center of technological innovation in the early part of the 20th century, as the arsenal of democracy during World War II, and as a symbol of urban decline during the past 40 years. During a period of national drift and partisan discord, renewing Detroit—through economic growth, job creation and market transformation—could help renew our nation," they conclude.
Read the full story: A Growth Strategy for Post-Bankruptcy Detroit
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