慢慢恢復元氣: 悄悄復興的底特律市中心
Detroit, in the minds of many people, looks like something from the film Gran Torino, in which Clint Eastwood’s retired car worker defiantly manicures his lawn and flies an American flag as the city around him descends into chaos. With its fraying social fabric and the imposition of an emergency manager to cope with its collapsing finances, it would be easy to argue a city that was a global centre of carmaking and musical innovation 50 years ago has passed the point of no return.
在許多人的心目中，底特律就像是電影《老爺車》(Gran Torino)中描述的那種場景——在這部影片中，克林特•伊斯特伍德(Clint Eastwood)飾演的車廠退休工人在他周圍的整個城市陷入混亂之際，頑強地修剪自家的草坪並懸掛美國國旗。隨着底特律的社會結構逐步瓦解，隨着一位危機處理專員被派來處理其日漸崩潰的財政狀況，我們會很容易地認爲，這座50年前曾經是全球汽車製造和音樂創新中心的城市已經無可挽回。Easy, yes; but wrong. Detroit’s days as a manufacturing powerhouse – like those of many industrial cities in America, Europe and elsewhere – are irrevocable. But its downtown is rebounding, thanks to the kind of central location, affordable property, improved efficiency and productivity also bringing people and businesses back to struggling former industrial hubs such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
容易是沒錯，但這種看法是錯誤的。與美歐乃至其它地方的許多工業城市一樣，底特律作爲製造業中心的日子已經一去不復返了。但底特律的市中心正在恢復元氣，得益於其所處的中心位置和價格適中的房產，以及效率和生產率的提高，這些因素也讓居民和企業重新回到了克利夫蘭和匹茲堡等掙扎中的老工業中心。Thousands of residents, including designers, techies and music makers, have moved to Detroit’s old central business district. They are drawn, to borrow a phrase from Jane Jacobs’ 1961 work, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, to the old buildings new ideas require. More than 40 per cent of the young adults living there are university educated, according to a recent report, compared with 11 per cent for the city as a whole, 29 per cent for the state of Michigan and 31 per cent for the nation. The urban centre is home to more than 600 new companies and draws 10.5m visitors to its leisure attractions each year.
包括設計師、技術人員和音樂創作者在內的數千居民已經搬到了底特律舊日的中央商務區。借用簡•雅各布斯(Jane Jacobs) 1961年的著作《美國大城市的死與生》(The Death and Life of Great American Cities)中的話來說，他們被產生新創意所需的舊房子吸引。最近一份報告顯示，在底特律市中心居住的年輕人當中，逾40%是大學畢業生，相比之下，整座城市的這一比例是11%，密歇根州是29%，全美是31%。底特律市中心是逾600家新公司的所在地，每年還吸引1050萬遊客來此休閒度假。
The nascent turnround is driven by a coalition of profit-led entrepreneurs, philanthropic foundations and grassroots groups unhindered by city government. They offer a distinctive model of revival from which cities in the US and beyond can learn.
追逐利潤的企業家、慈善基金會以及不受市政府束縛的草根組織一起推動了這種方興未艾的轉變。他們提供了獨特的復興模式，美國以及海外的城市都可以從中借鑑。For example, motivated by good business sense and community altruism, local company Quicken Loans has moved thousands of jobs from the suburbs to downtown. It bought millions of square feet of office and residential space with access to good transport links, much of it for pennies on the dollar. A consortium of local businesses has provided funding for 100 new police cars. Foundations and companies have pledged $100m for a new light rail system linking emerging neighbourhoods along the reviving economic spine. The Kresge Foundation’s Detroit Future City initiative will provide $150m to create more concentrated economic development, reuse 100,000 vacant plots and add parks.
例如，在敏銳的商業嗅覺和社區利他精神的激勵下，當地企業Quicken Loans將數千崗位從郊區搬到市中心。該公司在交通便利區域購買了數百萬平方英尺的辦公室和住宅，其中大多是以極低價格買到的。一個由本地企業組成的財團爲100輛新警車提供了融資。基金會和企業承諾爲一個新的輕軌系統提供1億美元的資金——這個輕軌系統將沿着正在復興的經濟脊樑，把新興的街區連接起來。Kresge基金會發起的“底特律未來城市”(Detroit Future City)項目將提供1.5億美元來進行集約化的經濟發展，重新利用10萬個空置地塊，並增加公園數量。Unemployment remains high, much of the city is distressed and the murder rate hovers near record levels. A cynic might say business interests and corporate urban pioneers are merely colonising the one economically viable district, leaving those in distressed areas to the mercy of its broke, powerless government. Indeed, a political divide has opened up between the largely young, white, educated “new” Detroit and the mostly African-American, undereducated and unemployed longstanding citizens.
底特律失業率依然高企，大部分地區衰敗不堪，謀殺率徘徊在歷史高點附近。愛嘲諷的人可能會說，商業利益和企業城市先驅只是在利用經濟可行區域，而把那些衰敗地區留給軟弱無力的破產政府。的確，政治上的分歧已經出現：一方是“新”底特律人，基本上由受過教育的年輕白人組成；另一方是底特律的長期居民，他們大多是教育程度不高而且失業的非裔美國人。Nonetheless, if it can be sustained, the downtown revival will be a first step to creating the jobs, economic activity and tax revenues needed to underwrite broader recovery. The city’s economic future will then be driven by its ability to deepen the creative component of all its industries. It must focus on turning low-skilled, low-paid service jobs into family-supporting jobs by tapping workers’ knowledge and skills. A new urban social compact is needed to upgrade underfunded schools, and to train and connect more people to the emerging downtown economy. This too can be a model for other distressed cities, as well as for more affluent ones such as New York, San Francisco and London with similar (if not higher) levels of inequality.
然而，如果市中心的復興得以持續，它將創造就業、經濟活動和稅收收入，從而成爲全面復甦的第一步。就此而言，底特律經濟未來的推動因素，將是其深化所有產業的創意組成部分的能力。它必須致力於將低技能、低報酬的服務型工作，轉變爲足以養家的工作，充分利用工人的知識和技能。它需要新的城市社會契約來改造經費不足的學校，培訓並延攬更多的人蔘與新興的市中心經濟。這也可以成爲其他衰敗城市，以及紐約、舊金山和倫敦等較爲富足但具有類似（或者更高）不平等程度的城市的榜樣。Downtown developments, together with the wider region’s economic assets, put Detroit on a better economic footing than it has enjoyed for a couple of generations. The resurgence at its heart provides grounds for real hope tempered with cautious optimism.
市中心的開發項目，加上整個地區的經濟資產，讓底特律獲得兩代人以來最好的經濟立足點。底特律市中心的復興讓人謹慎樂觀地對未來抱以期許。
