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Detroit - Former car capital celebrates its comeback as a creative city

Motown down and out? Not quite. Where there's a crisis, there is opportunity. Creative folk are discovering a new urban playground in America's former car capital. Artists and visionaries are finding that Detroit offers freedom for experimentation of all kind. Rock-bottom real estate prices and rents, empty, decaying buildings pleading to be revived to new grandeur, and an active, resourceful community are drawing artists into the city. Things that San Francisco's Mission District or Berlin-Mitte can no longer provide since they went upmarket and unaffordable. But Detroit is blossoming. In his blog Sweet Juniper, lawyer Jimmy Griffioen describes the city's renaissance, while Brian Boyle reports on smart projects and inspired business ideas on his Model D website. In the Corktown district, new bars like Slow's Barbecue are regularly opening, as are art galleries, while architect Brian Hurttienne has transformed the legendary Kales Building into a smart apartment block and a design school is moving into the formerly empty Argonaut Building. Not forgetting Clint Eastwood, who shot his movie "Gran Torino" here. In downtown Detroit, the Bureau of Urban Living has become a mecca for designers, and the Bronx Bar next door is also a creative hub. Detroit at the end of the line? Far from it. The city is gearing up for a new life. Read the whole story on Detroit's comeback by Steffan Heuer in THE MINI INTERNATIONAL