一年后，其他城市能从底特律的破产中学到什么？

    一年前的这个月，底特律申请了破产，它是迄今为止美国最大的破产城市。自那时起，华尔街的分析师们和媒体界纷纷关注其他城市是怎样应对自己的养老金和医疗保险债务的。有些城市已经意识到应该把工会当成合作伙伴而不是敌对力量，但这次底特律留给其他城市的教训远远不止是应该如何避免破产。

    对于其他想要开启或保持复苏进程的城市来说，底特律的困境揭示了三个真相。

    上周一，为了稳定财政状况，底特律的退休人员投票接受了一项旨在削减养老金支出的预案。过程自然十分艰难，但它只不过是个开始。底特律的例子已经表明，城市必须设置一个增长的平台。目前市场风向站在城市这一边：2011年，美国东北部都市圈的大城市的经济增长速度首次超过了郊区，这还是近100年来的头一回。2012年和2013年也持续了这种反转的趋势，或许说明美国的城乡发展的确出现了倒转。

    但是，城市政府仍然需要解决一些基本问题，以向企业和居民发出信号，说明留在城市或搬回城市进行投资的时候已经到了。而对于底特律来说，要解决这些基本问题并非易事：该市的给排水部门最近终止了对数千户居民和商业用户的服务，原因是他们没有缴纳费用，但是该部门事先并没有提出充分的警告，也没有投入充分的资源帮助低收入家庭处理他们的债务。不过周一底特律市又宣布对这些人暂时恢复供水两周，以便居民了解如何获得帮助，已经有一些积极的进展。

    比如底特律市政府放弃了对该市贝尔岛城市公园的控制权，让它由州政府托管30年。另外底特律公共照明局（Detroit Public Lighting Authority）虽然身负1.85亿美元的巨债，但还是勇敢地开始着手应对该市最棘手的麻烦之一——将55,000多个破损的路灯换成最先进的LED灯泡。另外为了不让市内仍然人丁兴旺的社区也陷入荒芜，市长麦克•杜甘想了一些新法子，比如要求房主修缮空房子，并且建立了一个新的拍卖网站，为那些空着的或是存在一些税务问题但仍然有吸引力的房子寻找新买主。

    其次，底特律的复苏体现出城市是网络体，而不是靠政府撑起来的。底特律政府一直深陷财政危机（而且早在底特律申请破产之前就已经是这样了），但是市民、企业和慈善机构还是为底特律城区投入了数十亿美元的资金，并且投资支持了对该市基础设施建设和经济前景至关重要的“智能计划”。M1轨道交通项目将于本月末开始动工，它正是底特律的基础建设与经济转型的象征，它的大部分资金并非来自联邦政府、州政府或地方政府，而是来自很多企业、慈善家和其它机构的捐赠。

    另外，底特律市长杜甘已经专门召集了一个领导小组，研究怎样开发底特律的创新“特区”，这个小组将由亨利福特健康系统公司（Henry Ford Health System）的CEO南茜•施列丁领导。它将聚合私人和公共部门的人才与资源为“特区”服务。一个城市的政府可以（并且必须）解决基本问题，但是不可能只靠政府自身带来经济发展。塑造城市的未来需要一大群有志之士。

    One year ago this month, Detroit filed for bankruptcy—the largest U.S. city to take such a step. Since then, Wall Street analysts and the media have focused on how other cities have responded—or failed to respond—to their own pension and health care liabilities. Some have recognized the need to engage unions as partners rather than adversaries, but the broader lesson from Detroit goes far beyond how to avoid bankruptcy.

    Detroit’s predicament has revealed three truths for how other cities can start and sustain a recovery.

    On Monday, Detroit retirees voted to accept pension cuts as the city continued to get its financial house in order. As hard as this process may be is, it’s only the beginning. Detroit has demonstrated that cities have to set a platform for growth. Market trends are in cities’ favor: In 2011, big cities in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas grew faster than their suburbs for the first time in nearly a century. This reversal continued in 2012 and 2013, possibly signaling a true shift in preferences.

    Still, city governments need to fix the basics to signal to both businesses and residents that it’s time to stay (or come back) and invest. For Detroit, fixing the basics hasn’t been easy: The city’s water and sewerage department recently cut off thousands of residential and commercial customers for non-payment with neither sufficient warning nor resources fully in place to help low-income households handle their debts. A two-week moratorium on shut-offs was announced Monday so that residents could learn more about how to get help, and there have also been many positive steps forward.

    The city government, for example, gave up control of the neglected (but promising) urban park, Belle Isle, turning it over to state management under a 30-year lease. Through a $185 million bond package, the Detroit Public Lighting Authority is tackling one of the most iconic symbols of the city’s troubles, replacing 55,000 broken streetlights with state-of-the-art LED bulbs. Mayor Mike Duggan has a new effort to stop blight before it starts in Detroit’s healthy neighborhoods by forcing owners to fix up vacant homes and has created a new auction site to find buyers for homes that are vacant or tax delinquent, but still attractive.

    Second, Detroit’s recovery shows that cities are networks, not just governments. As Detroit’s government was struggling with fiscal challenges (and the struggles started long before the bankruptcy filing), civic, business and philanthropic actors were committing billions of dollars into downtown and midtown and supporting a smart plan for the city’s physical and economic future. The M1 rail line, which is expected to begin construction later this month, is emblematic of Detroit’s physical and economic transformation. The bulk of the funding is coming not from the federal, state or local governments, but rather a consortium of companies, philanthropies and other anchor institutions.

    Similarly, the task force on Detroit’s new innovation district was convened by Mayor Duggan, and will be led by Nancy Schlichting, CEO of the Henry Ford Health System. It will draw on the talents and resources of private, public and civic actors and institutions. A city government can—and must—fix the basics, but it cannot generate economic growth all by itself. It takes a larger group of committed actors to shape a city’s future.