破产后，底特律路在何方？

    另一个更加不现实的计划是Detroit Works Project正在推行的、经过“几百次会议，163,000次人员联络以及30,000次谈话”形成的计划。这份富丽堂皇的《底特律未来城》(Detroit Future City)报告预计，未来底特律将在建设景观基础设施方面领先于全球，将高速公路变成“线性碳森林”，推动居民种植可食用作物来再利用空地。这份报告对2030年底特律的展望就像卢梭的风景画一样，到处都是“宽敞整洁的林荫大道，开阔的绿地，城市林地、池塘和溪流。”报告大胆直面底特律的人口萎缩，但给出的建议似乎与现有人口的技能和倾向不匹配。

    一个能对底特律的未来产生正面影响、但被忽视的因素是地域。没有什么天然疆界将底特律与总体更富裕的郊区划分开来，8里公路以北或格罗斯角以东，高速公路体系也让长途通勤变得轻而易举。交通四通八达，人们大量涌出底特律，同时也带走了个人资产和收入。

    底特律需要有这些人和他们的财富，才能生存下来。解决方案或许是将底特律与郊县韦恩、奥克兰以及马克姆合并，也就是大家都已经知道的大底特律地区，从而形成一个城市郊县政府。这样就能分摊治安、消防、教育和其他市政服务成本，早一步返回城市的人们也无需做出太多牺牲。底特律是进入大湖地区和加拿大的门户，在医疗和信息技术产品有很强实力。如果底特律整个地区能被视为一个经济实体，它将能更好地利用自身竞争优势，不必挣扎于如何有效地提供概念模糊的服务。

    不幸的是，底特律和周边郊县的关系并不融洽，就像美国历史上两个势不两立的家族海菲茨和麦考伊斯。它们的分歧不只是政治和财务，同时也包括种族。它们为此争吵了多年。因此，在底特律经济持续滑坡几十年以后，郊县携手拯救底特律的概率微乎其微。

    如今，底特律人必须面对至少18个月的破产地狱。如果最后能看到偿付固然很好，但眼下实在想象不出怎么才能做到这一点。底特律市就好像已经被榨干了，正在慢慢被抛弃。底特律–汽车城的概念将会继续存在，但可能只剩一个空壳。（财富中文网）

    译者：早稻米

    Another, more fanciful scheme was hatched by a group called Detroit Works Project after "hundreds of meetings, connection with people over 163,000 times, and over 30,000 conversations." Its glossy "Detroit Future City" report envisions the city leading the world in developing landscape infrastructure that turns freeways into "linear carbon forests" and in getting residents to reuse vacant land by growing their own food. Its Rousseau-like vision of Detroit in 2030 sees "stately boulevards, open green space, urban woodlands, ponds and streams." The report represents a brave attempt to face up to Detroit's shrinking population but its recommendations seem like a poor match with the skills and proclivities of the current population.

    One overlooked factor that could favorably influence Detroit's future is its geography. There are few natural boundaries to separate the dying city from the generally more prosperous suburbs north of Eight Mile Road or east to Grosse Pointe, and the highway system makes long-distance commuting simple. The lack of barriers has facilitated the outflow of people beyond the city limits who take their assets and incomes and assets with them.

    Detroit needs to connect with those people and that wealth to survive. The solution would be to merge the city with the surrounding counties of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb, an area already known as Metro Detroit, into a consolidated city-county government. Doing so would spread the costs of police, fire, schools, and other municipal services, allowing those brave urban pioneers who want to relocate in the city to do so with less sacrifice. If the entire region was treated as one economic entity, then Detroit could make better use of its competitive advantages – access to the Great Lakes and Canada, a strong presence in medical and information technology – without having to struggle with the efficient delivery of services that has proved so elusive.

    Unfortunately, Detroit and its surrounding counties get along like the Hatfields and the McCoys, the gap between them not only political and financial, but also racial. They have been fighting for years. The chance of them coming together to rescue Detroit after decades of decline is remote.

    Detroiters must now face the prospect of at least 18 months of bankruptcy hell. It would be reassuring to see a payoff at the end, but it is hard to visualize what it might be. It is as if the city has come to the end of its usefulness and is now slowly being discarded. The idea of Detroit – Motown – will remain, but the physical reality will be little more than a husk.