I work downtown but live in the burbs. I totally agree. Its a strange feeling when the entire business district (which is what is seen as evidence of the "comeback") feels just like a giant Quicken campus. I see far more private security than police.
The burbs sprang up around a city and economy 3-4x as large as it is today. Coupled with an overall shift in preferences towards urban living among millennials, it seems unlikely that there will ever again be a need for as much suburban housing around Detroit as there was in 1950. In other words, is it really reasonable to expect all of these areas to rebound?
My comment was more about how the core of downtown feels more like a corporate campus rather than a downtown city, it's a strange feeling. However, I think it's reasonable to question the expectations of which areas will rebound in this era.
The suburbs around Detroit really started taking on a life of their own recently. Far from just housing, many of them have actually developed downtowns and cultures and personality of their own as Detroit has floundered.
"Detroit" is really collection of small towns packed into a fairly dense geographical area. The City of Detroit is relatively inconsequential without Royal Oak and Novi and Grosse Pointe and Bloomfield Hills and Warren and Pontiac etc.
I am curious if there is a preference for urban living or its just a case of where the jobs are. I would quite happily live in a small town but that's not where the jobs are for me (software engineer) or my girlfriend (neurologist).
In the Detroit area the vast (VAST!) majority of the jobs are out in the suburbs. There's a good bit of stuff in downtown, but almost everything here is in an outer ring like Warren, Auburn Hills, Novi, Dearborn, Southfield, etc.
There is less economic stability, so it's more risky to be in a place with fewer employers, that by itself incentivizes wanting to live in an urban area.
