THERE IS NO ONE STRATEGY that will revive older metropolises that have lost their economic base and population. After decades of extreme economic decline, Detroit is now in the midst of a revival. Its path to that recovery offers a real-life case study of what Breznitz would like to see cities achieve, and may offer a model some could follow.
At its lowest point, in 2013, the city had to declare bankruptcy. But it gained access to a variety of sources of capital and jobs and these have helped it address issues of quality of life, educational improvement, and neighborhood revival. And these improvements have, in turn, helped the city to take steps toward addressing profound issues of racial justice that have plagued it for decades. To be sure, there are still segregated neighborhoods in Detroit and the Black–white gap on many economic indicators remains large. But the metropolis is not riven by race the way it was in the past.