Business

Detroit Is A National Model For 'A Remarkable Economic Resurgence,' Time Says

August 28, 2014, 9:39 PM by  Alan Stamm

Detroit gets high-profile praise from a Time editor, who writes that the city's "remarkable economic resurgence . . . could become a model for other beleaguered American communities."

"Even as Detroit continues to struggle with blight and decline," writes assistant managing editor Rana Foroohar, "its downtown is booming, full of bustling restaurants, luxury lofts, edgy boutiques and newly renovated office buildings." 


Rana Foroohar: "The city struck me as a template for much of the post-crisis U.S. economy – thriftier, more entrepreneurial and nimble."

Foroohar, who oversees the newsweekly's economics and business coverage, is the latest writer for a major publication to observe significant signs of turnaround in a city that hasn't yet emerged from bankruptcy. And she does so effusively under the headline "Detroit: America’s Emerging Market:"

The city struck me as a template for much of the post-crisis U.S. economy – thriftier, more entrepreneurial and nimble. . . .

Migrants are flooding into its center, drawn by lower-cost housing and a creative-hive effect that’s spawned a host of new businesses.

Time's essayist touches the usual stations of worship -- Dan Gilbert, Shinola, Whole Foods and Corktown's new federally financed American Lightweight Metals Manufacturing Innovation Institute. She also cites the M-1 streetcar line now under way as an important step:

Studies show that a similar project in Portland, Ore., has generated six times its cost in economic development.

In the past few months, officials from New Orleans and Miami have visited Detroit to study the project. 

If Detroit automakers start "investing more broadly in local innovation," Foroohar suggests in her 800-word commentary, it could "ensure that Detroit’s downtown rebirth grows into a boom that is more broadly shared."


Read more:  Time


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