Last year Time did a great project on Detroit, setting up shop in the city so that it could do run a journalism project focused on people, opportunities, and dreams. I thought it was a great idea, going beyond headlines to tell real stories of an iconic city with depth and credibility.
In the last decade more than 250,000 people have left the city. Hope springs eternal, and some places are irrepressible. Rome went from being the imperial capital to grazing land and back again to become the capital of modern Italy.
Detroit, once the heartland of America’s industrial belt, is discovering a new social and economic model. Almost one third of the city lies empty today, but that is rapidly changing as small community groups, neighbors and entrepreneurs converge on the opportunities this presents for urban agriculture, according to Scientific American.
At the heart of these plans is Recovery Park, designed to become the epicenter of a large scale urban garden and aquaculture project that will create up to 5,000 jobs.
Detroit is having a food moment. Like bringing a family together around the table – this project is from the community, for the community. Green shoots from a city of steel – this is the kind of creativity America needs.
