6 Cities Reborn

As the former capital of the US automobile industry, Detroit, Michigan, has long symbolized the decline of urban and industrial America. Since 1950, the city’s population has declined from about 1.8 million to perhaps 700,000, as many residents withdrew to the suburbs, and businesses left the city. Although causes were many, civic mismanagement and extensive corruption both played their part. Today, large areas of the city are effectively abandoned, with stretches of land reverting to grass. Lacking an adequate tax base, public services operate only sporadically. Detroit represents a process not just of decline but of deurbanization. By 2013, the city was unable to pay its debts and obligations, including pensions, forcing it to declare bankruptcy – in technical language, to seek Chapter 9 protection. Newspapers offered headlines such as “Detroit’s Reckoning,” “The Motor City Goes Bust,” and – from Time Magazine – “Is Your City Next?” Debts of $20 billion made this by far the costliest bankruptcy in US history. Some legal maneuvering was required to prevent the forced sale of the world-class collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. After a thorough financial restructuring, Detroit came out of bankruptcy protection at the end of 2014.