Smart City is one of the best radio programs not heard on our local affiliate. A recent edition featured Marsha Miro from MOCA Detroit. An excerpt follows (emphasis mine):

SC: What is the relationship between Detroit and its suburbs?

MM: Well, the thesis of the exhibition is that part of the reason of the shrinkage in Detroit was suburbanization — that people moved out of the city into these new towns, or smaller, older towns, whatever they may happen to have been. And the metropolitan population of Detroit has swelled where the city population has shrunk. So, this is a chance with this bus trip to see how things have changed.

When you drive through the city, you’ll see many streets where there are few houses left on the street, and the rest of the houses are gone; they’ve been torn down, and they’re fields now. And the city is almost becoming more country-like while the suburbs are becoming more urban.