When you compare Chicago to Detroit, the Motor City’s struggling economy is just part of the story. Another is how the fractured economy is affecting the city’s residents—those who have stayed, those who have fled, and those who have arrived with an eye to the future. TIME magazine is hoping to tell these stories with their year-long series, Assignment Detroit. TIME purchased a house in the Motor City, and correspondent Steven Gray moved there from Chicago as a reporter and coordinator of the coverage. Gray explains why now is the time to focus on Detroit.

Related:
Chicago’s History of Diversification
The Opportunity of Detroit

Music Button: Tom Jones, “Detroit City”, from the CD The Best of Tom Jones (Polygram UK)