Can Industrial Reinvestment Reverse Neighborhood Decline? Evidence from Automotive Investment in Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, 1980s-2020s

Under what conditions does industrial reinvestment contribute to the revitalization of distressed central-city neighborhoods? This paper compares the redevelopment of the Greater Conner District in Detroit, Michigan, which is home to the largest Stellantis automotive assembly complex in North America, with that of the East Windsor District in Windsor, Ontario, which is similarly cut through and encircled by automotive factories. Thanks to significant reinvestment from the early 1990s onward, both districts have retained thousands of advanced manufacturing jobs after previously suffering deindustrialization. Both are touted as economic development success stories. Yet whereas East Windsor has stabilized as a community, Greater Conner has suffered ongoing abandonment. This paper compares the history of economic and community development initiatives in the two districts, including investments at the community, local, state/provincial, and federal levels, to explain why East Windsor's residential and commercial areas have fared significantly better than those of Greater Conner.