Neither the right nor the left of Michigan politics likes the fact that the state governor has appointed an emergency financial manager to take control of the City of Detroit, but as Isidoros Kyrlangitses shows, the new manager will be critical in calming the municipal bond market and preventing infrastructure costs from inflating across the US.
Mayor Bing has been trying to resume and demolish blighted neighbourhoods, but is being frustrated by speculators. How might the Land bank be used to redistribute land and skirt the problem?
Many governments are encouraging agriculture in urban areas--so long as it doesn't challenge the status quo. Cities must learn to embrace 'urban ag' movements to engage citizens, and the key challenge will be regulation that permits new land uses.
Jay Walljasper takes a tour from one side of a street to another, alarmed that society could allow such disparities that between struggling Detroit and its affluent suburb of Grosse Pointe.
Isidoros Kyrlangitses argues that while Detroit's "home rule" status gives local voters greater influence, its pro-residents policies result in population decline, whereas Toronto's limited powers induce a focus on pro-development policies that encourage population growth.
Mike Duff (Twitter: @MrMikeDuff) is a consultant on strategy, planning and sustainability for cities at WSP, based in London.
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
