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There's something particularly exciting about Detroit that's hard to put my finger on, especially the last few years of development in the Midtown area. Something about all of the lovely art deco architecture slowly being re-occupied and revitalized by tech/retail/restaurants makes it an incredibly interesting time and place to be around.

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Even during the worst of times there's a spirit about Detroit. A friend of mine said in the early days she would be on a call and people would ask out loud why Detroit is even on the call. Nowadays they don't want to start the call until Detroit is online.

It's still quite the secret but Detroit's startup community is strong and growing. The skeptics will say when you're that far down it's easy to grow. But it's been ten years and slows no sign of slowing down.

Instead of being jealous of Detroit suddenly getting the attention Ann Arbor leaders are now beginning to find ways to work together. Sadly I wish the rest of the state could get some of their joint mojo.

I don't have the gumption to move there, but I completely agree. There's a lot of desire to move to the "next big" city (recent example being Austin), but I think there's a lot more pride in revitalizing a city with an existing identity. I think there's also a future where we're just creating more pockets of urban (and suburban) decay by hopping to whichever trendy city. American population isn't expanding like it was decades ago. imo, some metros (recent growing ones like Austin, Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta) are expanding at a rate that will not be sustainable in 30-40 years. Parts of those areas will be in an even worse situation than places like Detroit.

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