Drew Philp is an author and Detroit resident who rose to a level of internet stardom for his BuzzFeed post in 2014 about his journey buying and fixing up a $500 house in Detroit.
In the interim, he’s written a book (we talked to Philp about that book here on the Daily Detroit Happy Hour) and other creative projects.
Last fall, Philp took the stage at TEDNYC to talk about what he learned in the process that he began in 2009. The almost 14 minute video has racked up more than 320,000 views and is an interesting look into the different things happening in the city. Philp posits that there are two Detroits with two classes of citizens, and that Detroit’s real power is in the concept of radical neighborliness.
If the embed link below doesn’t work for some reason, here’s a direct link to the video.