Excerpted from Aaron M. Renn:

“Detroit, for all its problems—or perhaps because of them—has become nothing less than a new American frontier. Once, easterners heeded the call to “Go West, young man,” to leave behind the comforts and sophistication of the established citadels in search of adventure and fortune and to tame this great continent.

Now, that same whisper is starting to build around Detroit. Today, for those seeking out an alternative vision of urban success, with new and innovative ideas about what the city of tomorrow should be, it’s Detroit, not New York, that offers the ultimate arena in which to prove yourself.

One of those visions is urban agriculture, where Detroit is a national leader.

“Were I an aspiring farmer in search of fertile land to buy and plow, I would seriously consider moving to Detroit,” writes journalist Mark Dowie.

He continues:

– There is open land, fertile soil, ample water, willing labor, and a desperate demand for decent food. And there is plenty of community will behind the idea of turning the capital of American industry into an agrarian paradise. In fact, of all the cities in the world, Detroit may be best positioned to become the world’s first one hundred percent food self-sufficient city.

This isn’t just a crazy idea from some guy who lives in California. Dowie documents examples of people right now, today, growing food in Detroit. It wouldn’t surprise me, frankly, if Detroit produces more food inside its borders than any other traditional American city.

As Dowie writes:

– About five hundred small plots have been created by an international organization called Urban Farming, founded by acclaimed songwriter Taja Sevelle. Realizing that Detroit was the most agriculturally promising of the fourteen cities in five countries where Urban Farming now exists, Sevelle moved herself and her organization’s headquarters there last year. Her goal is to triple the amount of land under cultivation in Detroit every year. All food grown by Urban Farming is given free to the poor. According to Urban Farming’s Detroit manager, Michael Travis, that won’t change.

The Toronto Star also documented Detroit’s urban agriculture movement, and its intersection with community need—most of the city is a food desert, and there is not a single major chain supermarket inside the city limits—as well as social justice.

The Star reports:

– Detroit has become ground zero for North America’s local food movement. Last year there were roughly 550 gardens in the city’s urban farming network. This year there are more than 850. Driving around the city, you can see everything that will make up your dinner—chickens, goats, mushrooms, plum trees, honeybee hives…. Here, a locavore doesn’t eat food that’s travelled 100 kilometres. She eats food that’s travelled 10.

But in Detroit, it’s about more than just food.

“’We’re not just into farming. We’re into community self-determination,” says Malik Yakini, one of the leaders of Detroit’s nascent farming movement. The self-described “social architect” runs an Afrocentric school and chairs the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. He talks about food justice—where the community reaps both the nutritional and financial rewards of the food it buys.?
“We’re not just into farming. We’re into community self-determination.”

This unique blend is bringing together African American community activists with local food trends more often associated with upscale whites, raising the prospect of not just environmentally and socially sustainable development, but also perhaps a rapprochement of the city’s famed racial divide.

Artists, too, are attracted to Detroit, largely by virtually free land. The New York Times documented the case of a couple from Chicago buying a house for $100—along with other tales of artists attracted by the prospect of not just cheap rents, but actually being able to own property.

As the Times put it:

– The city offers a much greater attraction for artists than $100 houses. Detroit right now is just this vast, enormous canvas where anything imaginable can be accomplished. From Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project to Matthew Barney’s “Ancient Evenings” project (think Egyptian gods reincarnated as Ford Mustangs and you’re kind of close), local and international artists are already leveraging Detroit’s complex textures and landscapes to their own surreal ends.

The Times piece highlights another of Detroit’s absolutely crucial advantages—artists and other cultural creatives are attracted by the freedom to do what they want without excessive interference from the city. It’s possible to do things in Detroit.”