Economic Growth
Unlike many of the country’s struggling cities, Detroit is challenged not with the creation of a new set of economic assets but with a geographic and strategic alignment of existing assets. While it is true that the city’s original land patterns cannot efficiently serve its current residents, the real challenge is this: Detroit is not too big, its economy is too small.
The challenge of growing Detroit’s economy comes with an important imperative: the need to enhance equity by creating job opportunities for Detroiters of all backgrounds and skill levels. This is not only a desirable output—the right thing to do for people—but a key input for the city’s sustainable economic future—the smart thing to do for business.
The good news is that Detroit’s economy is changing, and its economic base is diverse, if modest. Four “pillars” of employment now account for well over half of Detroit’s employment base: education and medical employment (“Eds and Meds”), digital and creative jobs, industrial employment (both traditional and new technologies, large-scale and artisanal, manufacture and processes), and local entrepreneurship. All of these are promising areas of employment, and local entrepreneurship in particular is the “sleeping giant” that could change the economic landscape of Detroit, especially in the areas of business-to-business services (B2B), food processing, and construction/demolition/engineering/ repurposing (CDER).
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