This week's Metro Times has an excellent cover story.
Re-Detroit
Seeking the vision for a revitalized city
By Sandra Svoboda
http://metrotimes.com/news/re-detroit-1.1064791

One clip by Stephen Vogel caught my imagination for to succinctly encapsulating the current lively attraction of Detroit for artists, urban planners, international media, documentarians, dreamers and doers alike.
MT: Why is there such international interest in Detroit?

Vogel: If you look at all the textbooks on urban design or planning they're all based on growth. There is no textbook on Detroit. In a way we're sort of carving new ground. There's a general sense around the world, maybe not so much in America, that all cities are heading in the direction that Detroit is. To put a positive spin on it, however, is when architects or urban designers or planners see images of Detroit, they see it in a romantic sense. They see a very unusual environment and they see opportunity to become involved in this environment. I haven't had a group visit once that didn't fall in love with Detroit.
My experience concurs with that final sentence.