This could be changing. The city just opened its first operating streetcar in over 60 years, the Q-Line, which was largely privately funded and runs from Campus Martius up and down Woodward Avenue for 3.3 miles. The Q-Line has garnered some controversy as being primarily a “show pony” targeted to tourists that does not provide any real commuting benefit to many Detroiters like James Robinson.

Perhaps. But every revolution needs a show pony. This past summer I rode the Q-Line a couple of weeks after it first opened, before a fare was being collected. The tram was packed with young and old, black and white. Everyone had an opinion about the streetcar; everyone was suddenly an expert on the intricacies of urban transportation. As we slid past buildings being thrown up at a lightning pace, I felt a bit like I was on a Disney ride. See the future American City being built before your eyes!

Part of the Q-Line’s uphill battle is that the American City in question is still very much the Motor City, conceived around the encapsulated mentality of the automobile. Again and again I marveled at the efficiency of an Interstate System designed to penetrate deep into the urban grid.

Given that Detroit has lost over 60 percent of its population since the heyday of the 1950s, there is hardly any traffic on these highways, allowing you to essentially get from any two points in about 10 minutes. When I drove, I was early to every meeting. It was the American dream! Except it wasn’t: As I meandered down mostly empty four-lane freeways in my Ford Fiesta rental, I became acutely aware that, unlike on the Slow Roll or Q-Line, I wasn’t meeting anyone. I was alone, trapped in a cocoon. The car, once hailed as the key to every major United States city, is essentially the undoing of organic urban cohesion.

While in the past Ford and G.M. have been accused of ignoring the needs of their hometown, both car companies have begun to shift toward embracing the 21st-century Detroit citizen, who either cannot afford to own a car or else might choose not to. Ford in particular has rebranded itself as a “mobility” company, investing heavily in new ride sharing technology.