Our mini Monorail may have fallen on hard times, but Motown’s is experiencing a renaissance of sorts, not coincidentally, during a major expansion of downtown and in-city housing.

And it looks like Detroiters are thinking bigger (transit-wise) than a tour of downtown attractions.

A transit system is essential for Detroit to grow and compete with other big cities such as Chicago and New York, said Kami Pothukuchi, associate professor of urban planning at Wayne State University.

The system moves people around once they get downtown, “but it’s certainly not an alternative for a transit system that provides access from various parts of the city to the downtown or the region to the downtown,” Pothukuchi said.

– “Trains in Transit: People Mover rides high,” Detroit Free Press

The city that was built by and for cars, that has taken sprawl to a level that we (sprawled out) Puget Sounders cannot even begin to conceive of, is finally starting to think about density, transit, and the relationship of both to a thriving economy.