Nice use of the Roman history, by the way. But I think the thesis is wrong. Cato is not exhorting the Senate here. And do you really want to raise LBP to the status of an orator?

The only real agenda is a non-agenda. The people of this region don't want to have a major city, and they have acted accordingly. Bear in mind that when massive suburbanization started in the 1950s, the majority of then-adults were not even one generation away from the rural South. When they left for Vanilla Village, they left situations where families of 7 were routinely packed into 900-square-foot bungalows on 30-foot lots - and their trip was subsidized heavily by the feds. It is unfortunate - but not surprising - that successive generations have little more interest in urban life. Where they have some interest, it's a flirtation that ends at any "growing up" point [[employment, children, school-shopping). Where they have more interest, they just leave the state.

When you start changing social norms and make it more conventional for people with some degree of disposable income to live in cities, you will have cities. Until you can do that, all you will get is "tut-tut," dissembling discussions about how "Detroiters" destroyed what was given to them, and complete blindness to the fact that the ultimate way to squander assets is to abandon them.