The web works in mysterious ways. Whenever I notice a spike in new sign-ups, I drill down into the site's Google analytics for the reason. Today's comes via NewGeography.com via The Urbanophile blog via a NY Times mention.

"Detroit may be best positioned to become the world’s first one hundred percent food self-sufficient city."

I am continually amazed of how this Romantic-style vision of Detroit transforming into an agro-urban entity fires imaginations.

That was one of many interesting lines in this article from NewGeography.com via Aaron Renn's Urbanophile blog. Here is another.

"...the absolutely crucial advantage of Detroit. It’s possible to do things there. In Detroit, the incapacity of the government is actually an advantage in many cases. There’s not much chance a strong city government could really turn the place around, but it could stop the grass roots revival in its tracks." and...

"In most cities, municipal government can’t stop drug dealing and violence, but it can keep people with creative ideas out. Not in Detroit. In Detroit, if you want to do something, you just go do it. Maybe someone will eventually get around to shutting you down, or maybe not. It’s a sort of anarchy in a good way as well as a bad one."

Well it worked for Detroit techno, its peripheral rave culture, parties at the Packard. the Eastown and elsewhere. But the 'feckless' government did catch up with it.