I’m in Detroit for the fantastic Creative Cities Summit taking place over the next few days. Detroit is the center of modern musical innovation giving rise to genre upon genre from the proto-punk of the MC5 and The Stooges, to Motown, techno, and, of course, Kid Rock, Eminem, and The White Stripes among so many others.

It is now one of the most affordable cities around. According to this story in the local paper, the median price for a house or condo sold in Detroit in September 2008 was less than $10,000 ($9,250). In affluent Oakland County, which boasted some of the most expensive real estate in the world when I was a boy, the median price is $132,000. That could be turned into a powerful lure in this era of financial turmoil, authenticity, and frugality.