Link to single page: <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/05/how_to_shrink_a_city/?page=full" rel="nofollow">http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/05/...</a><p>I <i>hate</i> having to click a bunch of times to view a single article
This line of thinking is about ten years too late for Detroit. At this point, I don't think the city even has the resources to manage its decline. They're struggling just to keep the whole city from going up in flames.
This is an exciting problem space for the right entrepreneur. I'd be wary of dealing with government, because then you have political issues in addition to business issues, but I'm sure it's nice to have government contracts ;)