Detroit's renewal may lie in a smaller, denser, greener city.
Excerpt:
The Russell Industrial Center, an Albert Kahn--designed former
auto-body manufacturing plant converted into more than 1 million sq.
ft. (93,000 sq m) of studio space, is one example of how to find new
uses for Detroit's vacant structures. "It took us about a year before
we realized we weren't going to get big manufacturers in here," says
Chris Mihailovich, whose development company took over the complex in
2003. Mihailovich started leasing cavernous parcels at bargain-basement
prices, and a community flourished. "This is the future: small
business. The auto industry is all people knew, but it's not coming
back." In the Russell's warren of dingy hallways, more than 150 artists
hone their craft. Some salvage supplies and inspiration from the city's
wreckage. Artist Albert Young, 57, sifts through scrap yards for metal
he can assemble into sculptures--a process he calls "resurrecting
refuse from another time."
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