The last time Detroit voters chose a new mayor, the local government was largely controlled by the state, the population was in free-fall and the city was careening through the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history.

A dozen years later, Detroit is functional again. Local control of City Hall was long ago restored, the city’s bond rating is on the upswing and the streetlights are back on. And after decades of hemorrhaging residents, the city has seen slight upticks in population in the last two years, according to Census Bureau estimates.

Now, with Mayor Mike Duggan not running for a fourth term, a large field of candidates wants to lead a changed Detroit, population 645,000. The candidates and their supporters broadly agree that Detroit is better off than it was, and that the city’s downtown and Midtown were transformed in the Duggan years. At stake now, residents say, is Detroit’s next chapter, and whether the renaissance in parts of the city will spread to still-struggling neighborhoods.

“I think a lot of people are concerned that, as our current mayor leaves, do we have someone in place that can sustain what is in place,” said Mary Sheffield, the City Council president and leading candidate in pre-election polling. She said Mr. Duggan had “made some tremendous progress in helping Detroit move forward” and has emphasized her collaboration with him on the Council.

Other candidates, while acknowledging some of Mr. Duggan’s successes, have described Detroit as a “tale of two cities” and promised to prioritize people and places that they said had been overlooked.