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No one has taken as much blame for Detroit\u2019s woes as the major American car companies who, through the early 20th century, concentrated themselves there to such an extent that the city\u2019s name became a byword for the industry.<\/p>\n
Despite the contradiction of an urban metropolis owing so much to an explosion in car ownership, for decades the arrangement worked reasonably well. But eventually, as the likes of Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors faltered \u2013 especially during the oil crises of the 1970s<\/a>, when Japanese and European manufacturers gained the upper hand while homegrown ones responded with plant closures and massive layoffs \u2013 so the fortunes of the Motor City flagged.<\/p>\n
Watching in dismay as his hometown turned hollower by the day, Ford chairman Henry Ford II<\/a> had an idea: surely if all the car manufacturers \u2013 indeed, all the city\u2019s industrial companies \u2013 got together, they could pool their resources and build Detroit out of its spiral? And so, in 1970, arose the non-profit organisation Detroit Renaissance, the city\u2019s newest advocate for downtown \u2013 and, with its plan to kickstart the local economy by putting up the world\u2019s largest private development<\/a>, its most ambitious.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n