General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC are fighting for their lives. Large stretches of Detroit are already dead.

With enough abandoned lots to fill the city of San Francisco, Motown is 138 square miles divided between expanses of decay and emptiness and tracts of still-functioning communities and commercial areas. Close to six barren acres of an estimated 17,000 have already been turned into 500 ``mini- farms,'' demonstrating the lengths to which planners will go to make land productive.

The city, like the automakers, has to shrink to match what's left, said June Thomas, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

``The issue is how,'' she said. ``There's no vision.''

The 11th-largest U.S. city is running out of options and money as its three biggest corporate citizens seek a federal bailout and the economy contracts. While Detroit isn't even sure how short of revenue it is, the latest estimate from the mayor's office puts the deficit at $200 million and climbing on an annual budget of $3.1 billion.

The population of the once vibrant manufacturing hub that grew up around the 20th century expansion of the auto business has contracted to less than 850,000 from a peak of 1.9 million in the 1950s. More fallout is expected as the area's biggest industry eliminates jobs.