Thanks, nain, for bringing this up. The fact of the matter is that, even after 30 years of auto industry shrinkage, the population of metro Detroit [[including St Clair, Lapeer, Livingston, and Washtenaw counties in addition to the traditional big three counties), is up 40% from 1950, which is pretty comparable to metro Philadelphia's 43% growth. By contrast, Detroit proper is at 39% of its 1950 population, while Philly seems to have stabilized at around 73-74%.
I think your posts have outlined a pretty good diagnosis of what went wrong in Detroit that didn't go wrong in, e.g., Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston, among the top ten cities of 1950.
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