Creating sustainable metropolitan communities in the twenty-first century will pose great challenges for Michigan and other states in the region. Sustaining Michigan links critical, cutting-edge scholarship to pressing issues facing Michigan's metropolitan communities and increases understanding of the key economic, environmental, social and political reasons for why change is underway, the challenges to the current system, and the difficulty for Michigan in making substantive changes. Key metropolitan policies and strategies are organized around sustainability principles of the triple bottom line: economic prosperity, environmental stewardship, and social good. Remarkable in the breadth of its collaboration, this volume includes a range of academics from across the state who question existing policies that will define Michigan's future. The well being of our state may very well depend on the critical knowledge and understanding of the complex issues addressed in this volume to affect both the current and next generation of decision makers.