Retooling the Motor City: Can Detroit save itself?

Even with the backlash, starting the conversation on what to do with Detroit's landmass is worth the risk, says Paul Fontaine, an instructor at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in nearby Ann Arbor. Because Detroit lost so many people during the past decade, it has no other choice but to experiment, he says: "I can't think of any city in North America that lost more than 200,000 people in one decade. I think that statistic alone places Detroit in its own category of challenges [and] makes the scope of the Detroit Works Project so large and so important because so many eyes are on it."

WHAT'S GOIN' ON? REBRANDING

Detroit pride is palpable here and for good reason: Entrepreneurial innovation is Detroit's true legacy. From these streets came the workers who were the underpinnings of the US as an economic and military superpower – turning out not just automobiles but World War II bombers. And they also brought entirely new trends to world culture: Think Berry Gordy, who invented the massive studio sound of Motown right in his living room, and rapper Eminem and guitarist Jack White.

"You really have the freedom to do what you want here. If you want to change something about the city, you can," says Stephen Nawara, a musician and founder of Beehive Recording Co., an independent record label that specializes in developing local talent online.

A new influx of artists to Detroit has created "the most fertile art community in America," says Mr. Nawara, who operates his studio out of a rented turn-of-the-century mansion in Woodbridge, near downtown. He says he wants to help reestablish Detroit's identity as a world-class music incubator, just like it was during the heyday of Motown.

"I see such strength here. The automotive industry left everyone jobless. So the attitude now is 'let's do something we can do on our own.' And I think music and art is a part of that," he says.

Entrepreneurs can be found popping up in pockets throughout Detroit due to affordable rent, ample space, and a growing community of hungry young business and creative types who see the city's downturn as an opportunity to take risks they couldn't afford in other large metropolitan areas.

For it to succeed, Detroit needs to rebrand itself as a place that nurtures creativity, says Eric Ryan, a native who relocated to San Francisco several years ago to launch Method Products, a start-up company that specializes in boutique cleaning products. Speaking to a conference on entrepreneurship held in Detroit in March, Mr. Ryan said he believes Detroit is now at a point where it can feed off its unique energy as an underdog to spark invention.

"Weird changes the world, and Detroit could see a little more of weird in terms of creative ideas," he said.

Entrepreneurship is generating growth in some neighborhoods close to downtown. In Nawara's Woodbridge, the total population grew 13 percent in 2009 compared with that in 2000. Similarly, the population of Near East Riverfront, where Kelli Kavanaugh opened a bicycle shop in 2008, grew 13 percent during the same period.

Ms. Kavanaugh says she and her business partner chose to open Wheelhouse Detroit along the Detroit River because they saw more businesses thriving in the area where ample green space was attracting people interested in recreational activities. One sign she was right: In 2007, 600 people signed up for the first year of the Tour de Troit, the city's largest annual bike ride. By 2010, participation tallied 3,200.

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