Detroit's bet on urban renewal: casinos

Although Newark, NJ and Detroit, MI have much in common, their plans for urban renewal divide in a few key areas including not only mass transit, but also development of new downtown attractions.

Perhaps it's Newark's proximity to Atlantic City and Connecticut's casinos, that's stopped it from pursuing casino development as a revitalization strategy, and maybe that's a good thing. Instead Newark's focused on alternatives such as NJPAC, The Rock, and increased investment in its museum and Rutgers University areas. This assortment of diverse alternatives has helped Newark not only rebuild quickly, but also re-establish the city as a cultural destination for its surrounding suburban areas.

Like Newark, Detroit is surrounded by sprawling suburbs-- the destination for those fleeing the city since the 1950s and 60s. Also like Newark, Detroit's received little support from its suburban neighbors, instead being pretty much ignored for most of the last half of the 20th century as the city falls further into ruin.

Unlike Newark, Detroit is situated across the river from another country, and the city of Windsor, Ontario, a booming "Atlantic City" of Canada. The past 15 years has seen an explosion of casino development in Canada, and Detroit's renewal strategy hinges on cashing in on this phenomenon.

Detroit is now home to three casinos: MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino Hotel, and Greektown Casino.  Unfortunately this redevelopment strategy hasn't been completely successful; for example, the Greektown Casino filed for bankruptcy in May 2008, and the other two Detroit casinos have seen profits plummet as the U.S. economy sinks further into one of the greatest recessions in the country's history.

I think one of the big problems with this sort of development is that it doesn't benefit the surrounding community as promised. Atlantic City is a good example-- the casino areas and boardwalk have been renewed, but walk 2-blocks from that area and urban decay, poverty, and crime are still very much a part of AC.

Another problem with casino-focused development is that it doesn't rebuild a much needed bridge from the downtown urban area back to the surrounding suburbs. By not investing in downtown culture (as Newark has done), Detroit's created a vacuum whereby local culture has taken flight to the suburbs (such as Ann Arbor), with no incentive to return to downtown Detroit.

Art communities rejuvenate urban economies; Chicago and Asbury Park are good examples of this phenomenon. Newark is also home to a thriving artist movement. Although Detroit has created an emerging artist market, it might benefit from rethinking its casino-centric development plans and increase investment in attracting artists communities to downtown Detroit to help increase the diversity of its redevelopment plans.