The New York Times > Business > G.M. Helps to Drive a Detroit Revival

The fundamental reason that cities work or not is not development (which helps), but education. If you can have communities and neighborhoods that work, then you can start getting economies of scale and then get towns and cities. Detroit's problems are from fifty years ago when there were neighborhoods and communities, but within 15 years moved out (thank you Interstate Highway system).

Detroit has been hurt most by the limits in immigration. It's too far from the coasts, yet too close to Chicago. If you look at the thriving neighborhoods in Detroit, half of the them are immigrant communities. The worst part is that amny immigrants have skipped over living in the urban part of town and have started to move directly into the 'burbs.