Can the Zombie Apocalypse Save Detroit?

Now wait just a second, Reason contributor Shikha Dalmia. Maybe bankruptcy isn't the answer to Detroit's economic woes. Maybe it's zombies.

Enter Z World Detroit, the latest and possibly greatest scheme to save the Motor City. The concept, developed by entrepreneur Mark Siwak, sort of sounds like the end result from a Cheech and Chong brainstorming session. Take a 200-acre plot of Detroit's abandoned warehouses and neighborhoods. Now turn it in to apocalyptic amusement park, where visitors stay overnight to fight the zombies–or turn into one. Says Siwak:

People look at [Detroit's abandonded buildings] and see a problem. A huge liability. But we think that's looking at it the wrong way. This is actually an opportunity we would like to take an advantage of. We want to embrace what's left behind and turn it to something unique and spectacular.

The group admits that they still have work to go, in terms of locating an ideal site, refining the specifics of the actual game, not to mention questions of eminent domain (what happens when the one guy who doesn't want to leave his home is now living in the middle of a zombie takeover?). Nevertheless, it's certainly a creative attempt to get people—both living and undead—back to the city. As the Z World Detroit team puts it, "who doesn't want to live through at least one night in the zombie apocalypse?"

Good question.

For more on the zombie uprising, check out Z World Detroit's video below: