Critics had predicted that the city might take years to emerge from bankruptcy, and that any glimmer of a renaissance would take even longer. But signs of improvement have piled up. Streetlights are on. Police response times have dropped. And some home sales prices have risen.

“This city is coming back to the way it was before,” said Rondo Johnson, 91, who has lived in Detroit for decades. “It’s certainly better than it was five years ago, but there’s more to do.”

Some residents said race will be a factor in the election to lead this city, which is 82 percent black. Mr. Young’s father, who died in 1997 after serving as mayor for two decades, is widely remembered as giving African-American residents a voice at this city’s municipal building, which now bears his name, and through the ranks of the city departments.