Saving Motown. The Motor City. The D.

I am intriguied with Detroit. The city has this sad, lack luster image, riddled with an affair scandal to remember, horrible public schools that teach students how to work at Walmart, a jobless rate close to 50% and the lowest annual income per resident in the United States. On top of that, the city's infrastructure is built to support 2million people, and yet only about 870,000 people lived there as of 2006. And lately, Detroit has been everywhere in the media.

That's because the Motor City has a plan. And a big one at that.

For the shrinking city, whose total land area is about 139 square miles, demolishing many of the vacant homes spread through out Detroit will help clean up the blight. Using Federal Neighborhood Stabilization money and other funds, the D plans to tear down up to 3,000 vacant houses of the 10,000 deemed too dangerous for inhabitants. That still isn't enough to take care of the other 23,000 abandoned properties within the city.

What does the city plan to do with this newly vacant land and another 91,000 vacant parcels? Farms. And lots of them. This rust-belt city is going back to its argrian roots, if residents have their way. Yes, the urban agriculture movement has already started sowing its seeds in Detroit, with small scale farms producing food for underprivaledged areas and turning the blight into bright. But now large players are moving in and bring with them ideas of huge, for-profit enterprises with residential built around them to change the landscape of this industrial city yet again. The initial investment? A cool $30million, which is more then half the amount the city expects to get from the Feds to tear down those under-served neighborhoods. Over 40 square miles are of Detroit, almost the size of San Francisco, could be turned over to farms within the next few years.

What else is the city doing to reduce blight, grow the economy and help its residents? Recently, Detroit ranked third (yes, third) in the top 5 places for Green Jobs. The Department of Energy has given grants to the state, who is funneling the funds to the failing American automobile Industry in Detroit to develop new technology for electric and hybrid cars. With over $30 billion in funds from the stimulus package for clean technology development and another $2.3billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing credits, Detroit might just be developing more jobs with a little help from their friends. But these jobs are going to require more skills and higher education. A challenge for a city where 24% of the population over the age of 25 does not have a high school degree or equivalent and only 7% have a bachelor's. That would just mean more educated workers migrating to the city. And those new folks can live in the shiny new residential units built around the shiny new farms.

Innovative planning by turning Detroit in to a Green Metropolis is not going to be the catch all that saves it. But at least it is offering more incentive for people to come back into the city. I have a feeling that the D is going to experience some growing pains, for sure, but will be blowing up in the months and years to come, as long as the city continues its plan of shrinking growth. Hopefully, Motor City will not forget to invest in its human capital, as much as it is investing in its physical capital.