Detroit Wild City (2011)

The automobile industry jump-started Detroit's prolific rise and helped turn it into the most industrialized city in the United States. But drastic changes in American demographics & culture have upended the once prosperous city, leaving it in partial ruins. Today, vast urban prairies, populated with a diverse array of wildlife including falcon, deer, and coyote, have replaced what once had been working- and middle-class neighborhoods. Now, an unexpected turn of events has created a 'blank canvas' environment where young people and urban farmers are moving back into the ruined neighborhoods of old Detroit. Are these folks a new kind of pioneer? Could this be a way in which American's urban areas are being "rediscovered"? The film contains interviews and appearances by a number of Detroiters, including a fix-it man, and urban farmer, a photographer & urban explorer, a bar owner, a lifelong resident, and a self-professed "monk", who together illustrate & narrate the story of the city's rise, fall, and eventual return.