Downtown Detroit is the hub of the Metro Detroit Area. Its center borders the Detroit River and its streets stretch out like spokes into the surrounding suburbs.

Downtown Detroit is the city's central business district and a residential area, bordered by the Lodge Freeway to the west, the Fisher Freeway to the north, Interstate 375 (Chrysler Freeway) to the east, and the Detroit River to the south. The area contains most of the prominent skyscrapers in Detroit, including the Renaissance Center, the Penobscot Building, and the Guardian Building. The downtown area features high-rise residential living along with a number of parks including those linked by a promenade along the Detroit International Riverfront. In 2007, downtown Detroit was named among the best big city neighborhoods in which to retire by CNN Money Magazine editors.

Greektown is located less than half a mile (800 m) from the Renaissance Center in the downtown area. The neighborhood is a popular restaurant and entertainment district, having many restaurants that serve Greek cuisine, as well as one of the city's three casinos, Greektown Casino. Certain buildings on Monroe Street are themed to resemble the Parthenon, Pegasus, and other forms of Greek architecture. Greek music is also played on Monroe Street throughout the day. Well-known restaurants include The Laikon Cafe, Cyprus Taverna, Pegasus Taverna, and Pizza Papalis. St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, founded by German immigrants, is located in the heart of the district. The Second Baptist Church once served as "station" for the Underground Railroad. The Detroit People Mover has a station at the Greektown Casino on Beaubien Street between Monroe Street and Lafayette Boulevard. The Greektown Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  http://www.visitgreektown.com/

The New Center is a commercial district adjacent to Midtown and located approximately three miles (5 km) north of the city's downtown, and one mile (1.6 km) north of the Cultural Center, around the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Boulevard (which is sometimes referred to as The Boulevard). Developed in the 1920s, it was designed to create a business hub that would offer convenient access to both downtown resources and outlying factories. Some historians believe that the New Center may be the original edge city - a sub-center remote from but related to an urban core. From 1923 to 1996, General Motors maintained its world headquarters in the New Center (in what is now Cadillac Place) before relocating downtown to the Renaissance Center. Cadillac Place, a National Historic Landmark is now occupied by State of Michigan government offices. The Detroit St. Regis Hotel is across from Cadillac Place. The descriptor "New Center" derived its name from the New Center News, an automotive-focused free newspaper begun in 1933 that continues to operate under the name Detroit Auto Scene. The CityFest, a five-day street festival held around Independence Day, takes place on the streets of New Center. The Fisher Building, a National Historic Landmark, is considered an Art Deco masterpiece, sits in the New Center.

Midtown Detroit is an area covering roughly two square miles between Downtown Detroit to the south and New Center to the north. Its boundaries are the Ford, Chrysler, Fisher, and Lodge Freeways. It includes the Art Center and the Medical Center in the northeast quadrant, Wayne State University's campus, the Detroit Public Library, and the Detroit Historical Museum in the northwest, and the Cultural Center including various restaurants, galleries, newly constructed lofts/condos and nightlife venues along Woodward in the center, among other things.

Chinatown - A Chinatown is a section of an urban area containing a large population of Chinese people within a city that is not predominantly Chinese. Chinatowns are most common in Southeast Asia and North America. This semi-abandoned intersection in Midtown Detroit (just north of Downtown) is going through a revitalization these last few months. Where once it was nothing more than a eerie intersection with chinese murals and a thrift stores left abandoned, these buildings and even murals are currently being restored to their one time beauty. It's been rumoured that the Leader of the Golden Serpent Association, out of Windsor, Ontario is behind the revitalization in Detroit's Chinatown.

Detroit's Cultural Center is located in the Midtown neighborhood, about two miles (3 km) north of downtown, centered on the Cultural Center Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Cultural Center is roughly bounded by Cass Avenue to the west, Interstate 75 to the east, Interstate 94 to the north and Warren Avenue to the south. It also includes the East Ferry Avenue Historic District. Attractions include the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Scarab Club, the Detroit Historical Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the main library of the Detroit Public Library system and the Detroit Science Center. The College for Creative Studies is located adjacent the Scarab Club and opposite the East face of the Detroit Institute of Arts. The main campus of Wayne State University is located adjacent to the area, on the opposite side of Woodward. This area also includes Brush Park Historic District, Brewster-Douglass housing projects, and the Cass Corridor.

Dearborn: Beyond Henry and history, a unique feature of Dearborn is its demographics. Dearborn has the largest Arab population of any community in the United States and is home to the new 38,500-square-foot, $16 million Arab American National Museum, which opened in May 2005. This soaring, three-story museum adorned in blue ceramic tiles from Morocco is the first of its kind in the world. And it's a great place to discover (or rediscover) how Arab Americans have enriched the economic, political and cultural landscape of our life.

Organized in four separate areas, the museum uses art, artifacts, documents, personal papers, and photographs to tell the well-known immigrant story: the history of the Arab civilization, coming to America, living in America and the impact Arabs have made here. While there's nothing new or remarkable about this format, it makes the story of Arab Americans easy to follow and absorb. Some of the most recognizable profiles include White House journalist Helen Thomas, Indy driver Bobby Rahal, and consumer advocate and presidential candidate Ralph Nader. The museum also has great public programming including a multicultural performance series, film festivals and book readings. So, before you go, be sure to check out the website for a complete listing.

Another feature of this Arab-rich community is the food. No surprise, Dearborn is thick with middle-eastern restaurants and shops. There's no better place in the area to get a kabob, shawarma or shot of raw juice. Some of the best are La Shish and La Pita. The New Yasmeen Bakery is also essential for after-dining sweets. If you prefer to chef up your own middle-eastern feast, visit Mati's Deli and the Greenland Market/Grocer for complete supplies.

Little Haiti - lower Eastside.  If you are looking for a quincallerie (hardware store), gros savon (soap), and beurre chaud (bread), then you must make a trip to Little Haiti, the neighborhood where Detroit's growing number of Haitians have carved out a place they call their own. Little Haiti's population is 33, 908.

Little Haiti captures the flavor of the world-famous Haitian primitive art, rich with colors of the Caribbean. Local Haitians in the surrounding areas have built up businesses along N. Detroit Ave. and N.E. 2nd Avenue; excellent examples of this industrious community’s strong sense of ethnic pride and entrepreneurial energy.

El Cristo Negro: Lost in the surrounding of cheap and often-times, abandoned stores, and within Little Haiti, sat what was once a very beautiful church. This church had fallen upon hard times due to the rise of gang violence over the years. Much of the property over the years had been sold off for the funds needed and because of this much of what made this church beautiful was soon lost amidst the neon signs of neighboring alcoholic shops. Today, the church, long since decommissioned and forgotten as was the area in which it sat, waits to be given a breath of new life.

Japantown (Novi, Michigan) - Although, the city of Novi, Michigan does not declare itself as a little Tokyo or Japantown, the fact is that it is one of the centers of the Japanese community in the Detroit Metropolitan region, which extends from the city of Ann Arbor to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Livonia, to Novi, to Farmington Hills, to Southfield, to Crawford, to Troy. The Detroit Metropolitan region is considered by some circles to be the 4th largest Japanese community in the nation and by some other circles to be the 9th largest. The Japanese community is spread out among the cities mentioned above. As one drives through the surrounding Japanese community of the Detroit, Metropolitan region it is not obvious that the Japanese community is significantly present. However, once one enters the Japanese supermarkets on the weekends, the presence is obvious.