Revitalizing American Cities

Introduction

Introduction Small and mid-sized cities played a key role in the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Well-positioned cities like Allentown and Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, with easy access to coal from the north and railroad connections to the east, became ground zero for manufacturing the steel that built the nation. New England towns, like Beverly and Southbridge in Massachusetts , imported British technology and produced cheap fabrics for the textile industry. Newly built canals in the 1820s turned Dayton, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania, into hubs for shipping, warehousing, and distributing manufactured products. The rise and fall of the steel industry in particular reflect not only manufacturing trends in the United States but also the fate of older industrial cities . During the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Steel Company, Bethlehem Steel, and its neighbors the Allentown Iron Company and the Allentown Rolling Mills in Allentown all thrived, supplying the steel used in building skyscrapers and in the growing manufacturing sector. Bethlehem Steel’s warships were a critical contribution to World War I and II victories. As late as 1964, Bethlehem Steel was building its largest plant to date. Clearly, the steel companies and their communities expected manufacturing to retain its vibrant and predominant position in a growing economy and in the cities that produced the product. While manufacturing was dominant, northeastern and midwestern cities, by processing raw materials and manufacturing products, prospered and grew. And then it changed. Transportation became cheaper, communication became easier, foreign companies became more competitive, and the U.S. manufacturing industry seemed to be down for the count. In 2001, Bethlehem Steel filed for bankruptcy. By 2003, it no longer existed. Other factories closed. Imported foreign steel hit cities like Allentown and Bethlehem particularly hard. Manufacturing profits tumbled and the cities that relied on these industries declined. In response to these broad economic changes, 2 Introduction since the 1970s, local governments have developed policy interventions to bring growth (both economic and demographic) back to cities. There was and is, of course, an important regional component to the growth and decline of cities, with population declining in older industrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest and growing in cities across the South and West. From 1980 to 1990, in the Northeast and Midwest, thirty-one cities lost population, and twenty-eight cities gained population. The older industrial cities such as Allentown and Bethlehem experienced dramatic losses in population. The following decade saw a similar pattern. But in the most recent decade, 2000 to 2010, these patterns began to turn around. The most recent census data, showing growth between 2010 and 2011, confirm a pattern of renewed strength in cities: for the nation as a whole, core areas grew at .08 percent, while outlying areas grew at .06 percent. American cities have “a history of being remarkably resilient,” says Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Even in a period of slow national growth, in the aftermath of the Great Recession, cities are being reinvented, particularly the older industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast. Today, Allentown and Bethlehem are experiencing strong population growth for the first time in decades—and they are not alone. Many small and mid-sized cities are reinventing their present and future and reversing their trajectory of decline. For some cities, this rebirth is taking hold in a reinvented manufacturing sector. In 2010 and 2011, manufacturing employment increased for the first time since the late 1990s, providing some evidence that manufacturing is coming back. But other cities are seeking new growth in a re-envisioned economy centered on arts, downtown renaissance, and knowledge-based jobs. Among today’s educated young adults, “Rust Belt chic”—which refers to the gritty, underdog allure of struggling manufacturing cities—has become an attractive antidote for some to overly neat, expensive, and boutiquefilled cities. Old industrial hubs across the nation—from Springfield to Wichita, from Providence to Columbus—have started to experience a shift in their fortunes. While this demonstrates that turnarounds can happen, whether they happen or not depends on a city’s underlying conditions, as well as its policy choices. Deindustrialization wrought broad changes to the fabric of America’s older industrial cities and had far-reaching consequences for those who lived in these cities. Declining cities have concentrated poverty and decreased opportunities for the urban poor. This issue, and the policy responses engen3 .137.185.180] Project MUSE (2024-04-26...