Detroit, a city at the epicenter of economic downturn in the industrial US, is coping with financial distress by downsizing not only its blighted urban neighborhoods. Forty-five Detroit schools and other educational facilities will close in June under a $1bn plan unveiled Wednesday by the city school district’s emergency financial manager. The district has been beset with falling enrollment, as well as aging buildings, Robert Bobb said Wednesday. The plan will allow the district to cut operating costs by about $31m in 2010 and ensure lower maintenance costs in the future, he said. The plan, which complements an academic plan recently unveiled by Bobb, will “create a leaner, smarter DPS,” he said.