People say the rust belt will be a great place to live later in the century if climate change and resource constraints really hit home, lots of water, arable land, no major natural disaster phenomena, so I think. Detroit will rise again, cities have long lives
I hope this is the case, but OTOH, what's stopping people from just moving to Columbus or Green Bay instead? The cities in the Midwest that are growing currently aren't the ex-industrial places; they're metro areas that are more like sunbelt cities except for location.
I've always thought an enterprising corporation like amazon or something could buy up entire neighborhoods in detroit that are abandoned but still have good brick architecture and fix them up as an emplyment draw for employees.
for your question, nothing specific i guess favors detroit over columbus, i just think rising tides lift all boats and people will move back in/around the D evetually