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How Detroit's Industrial Structure Sank Its Future
- Detroit's early success came from many small automotive entrepreneurs who shared ideas, finance, and suppliers, creating a dense innovation ecosystem.
- The later shift to vast vertically integrated plants like River Rouge removed local spillovers and made reinvention hard when autos suburbanized and globalized.
Human Capital And Firm Size Predict City Comebacks
- Regions that rebuild tend to have high human capital and many small firms rather than dominance by a few large firms.
- Historical proxies (college share, establishments per worker, startups) strongly predict urban regeneration.
Free Up Land Near Universities To Grow Clusters
- Make land near universities easy to build for mixed use and commercial space rather than subsidizing artificial incubators.
- Easier zoning for relevant space enables spillovers from universities without large direct subsidies.