How Will Detroit Be Saved?

I am currently reading the book $20 Per Gallon by Christopher Steiner.  One of the chapters has to do with what will happen when gas reaches over $10 per gallon and beyond.  But more than the price of gas, it has to do with the price of oil.  Oil is so much a part of our lives from the cars we drive, the packaging our food comes in, the production of that food to the asphalt we drive on.  With tensions rising in the Middle East with Iran and skyrocketing use of oil in other parts of the world, the price will only go up.  When this happens, people who live in the "exurbs", the suburbs on the outer ring, will be looking to move back into the city.  The whole lifestyle of driving everywhere for everything from school, groceries, church and the gym will be curbed by the rise of gas and oil.  The cost of heating and cooling the scattered Mc Mansions will exceed what many can afford on their already stretched budgets.  There will be an increased interest in moving to more densely populated areas.  New York has been working hard at maintaining its dense population while places like Detroit lost its dense population to cheap land and cheap oil.  The great hope for the incredible shrinking city will be increased cost of oil.  In some countries, living in the city is a status symbol.  In Metro Detroit, the status symbol is owning a large home with a yard and driving a fancy car or SUV.  That American dream will shift and supporters of Detroit will rejoice.  I think that Detroit will be one of the last cities to be redeveloped in the US because it is so car focused.  It is hard to believe that there was once a spiderweb of light rail over the entire Metro area.

One of the unique and exciting things about Detroit though is that there is so much open space that new buildings can be built.  In other large cities like Chicago and New York, so much space is already developed and people have to adjust to the buildings they live in or do a lot of remodeling to make the layouts make sense.  In Detroit they will have the opportunity to build new, energy efficient housing and apartments.