Rick Tetzeli of Time Inc. runs the company’s multi-platform, multi-publication effort to cover the transformation of Detroit. They have bought a house in Detroit and reporters are covering the city’s transformation for Time mag, Fortune, even Sports Illustrated, as well as blogging, et al. He just talked to “The Reinvented City” conference I’m attending in Cambridge, Mass.
Here’s his quick rundown of how Detroit is having to and is reinventing itself:
-The city is shrinking. The population is down from 2 million to 800,000. Within the confines of the city of Detroit you could put the footprint of Manhattan, Boston AND San Francisco.
-The school system is such a disaster that they’re considering “all different kinds of things.” Example: public boarding schools.
-They’re considering light rail between the city and the suburbs, to help connect both geographically and socially.
-Urban farming is, er, taking root.
– “A huge psychic change – nobody expects the car industry to save them anymore.”