Building a 21st Century Economy in America’s Older Industrial Areas: Is growth always positive?
Hayley Richardson | Sun, Dec 16th, 2007 | Category: Report | Tags: hayley richardson, economy, growth, is growth always positive, 21st century economy, pittsburg, older industrial areas, american assembly report, harper's magazine
Image/logo courtesy of the American Assembly.
Recently released: a report from The American Assembly’s November 8th Conference in Hershey, PA entitled, “Retooling for Growth: Building a 21st Century Economy in America’s Older Industrial Areas. “ It’s an exploration that fits in nicely with TNAC’s current cover story, which examines how Pittsburgh is dealing with the post industrial bind that many cities have found themselves in: a dwindling population, job loss, and crumbling infrastructure.
See the American Assembly report here (PDF)
Pittsburgh has looked to art for its salvation, an approach which the report doesn’t mention. But it does maintain that in order to survive, struggling cities must commit to business creation and growth, human capital development, and improving the quality of space. The report also highlights the importance of building an entrepreneurial culture by taking advantage of the skills and creativity of those who have traditionally been left out of the formal economy. An important thing to note. But I also get the sense that the report takes a somewhat unrealistic approach to city-building in the 21st century. Even the title, Retooling for Growth, assumes that the places in question will continue to grow, and that growth is always a good thing.
Cities often speak of the importance of attracting newcomers, and the American Assembly Report is no different, arguing that this an integral component to the expansion process . However, it cannot be overlooked that in their quest to attract newcomers, cities have often chosen to sanitize particularly troublesome urban areas; The Verizon Center in Washington DC, and the Harlem USA project in New York City both made the neighborhood palatable for newcomers, but the loss of place seems a tremendous price to pay for growth.
For arguments sake, I immediately substitute “Detroit” every time I stumble across the term “metropolitan area.” We all know the story of Detroit, a post-industrial ghost-town that’s 83 percent black, surrounded by a amniotic sac of affluence. Detroit is filled with residents who were left stranded by white and job flight, who do not benefit from the tax base of the suburbs. They’ve had to make their way forward, alone.
As Rebecca Solnit so eloquently wrote in July’s issue of Harper’s Magazine, the city of Detroit cannot—and will not—ever become what it once was. In order to escape the unsettling fate of a slide back to nature, it must become something else entirely, capitalizing on its hyper-local assets.
Perhaps then, chasing after this elusive growth should not be the aim of city planners, as we cannot pretend that these industrial areas will regain national prominence. Maybe we should instead embark on an empowerment to the people project that would make life better --right now-- for those who live in these troubled areas. We might be surprised at what they’re capable of.
