Knocking down abandoned buildings has a lot of benefits for Detroit − but it’s costly for cities
- Written by Mark Skidmore, Professor of Government Finance and Policy, Michigan State University

Few cities have experienced a sharper economic change of fortune than Detroit.
It was one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation between 1900 and 1950.
In the nearly 75 years since then, it has lost over 60% of its...