Detroit is living proof that top-down efforts to bring about change rarely work and often breed deep cynicism. Real progress is more likely to happen when ordinary people do things that work and these things become contagious.
In stressed places around the world, the approach of learning from "positive deviance" within a city or region has been used to turn near hopeless situations around.
This way of thinking treats the city as a living thing that responds to the laws of nature and attraction, rather than trying to "fix" a big machine.
However, glossy media profiles of local entrepreneurs are not enough for this kind of bottom-up change to catch on in a big way. Instead, the ingredients for success need to be closely analyzed. Who are the Positive Deviants in Detroit that offer more promise for causing change than the next big top-down effort?
In the immortal words of brizee on this forum, "...we have got to find to a way to unfuck ourselves." ...emphasis on ourselves.
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