Detroit and Flint are mentioned in this article.

"Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline."

The image of "pruning an overgrown tree" is mentioned. At least that sounds more hopeful than "pruning a dying tree".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...o-survive.html