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After the Factory
Reinventing America's Industrial Small Cities
Editors:
Publisher:
2010
Summary
The most pressing question facing the small and mid-sized cities of America's industrial heartland is how to reinvent themselves. Once-thriving communities in the Northeastern and Midwestern U. S. have decayed sharply as the high-wage manufacturing jobs that provided the foundation for their prosperity disappeared. A few larger cities had the resources to adjust, but most smaller places that relied on factory work have struggled to do so. Unless and until they find new economic roles for themselves, the small cities will continue to decline. Reinventing these smaller cities is a tall order. A few might still function as nodes of industrial production. But landing a foreign-owned auto manufacturer or a green energy plant hardly solves every problem. The new jobs will not be unionized and thus will not pay nearly as much as the positions lost. The competition among localities for high-tech and knowledge economy firms is intense. Decaying towns with poor schools and few amenities are hardly in a good position to attract the 'creative-class' workers they need. Getting to the point where they can lure such companies will require extensive retooling, not just economically but in terms of their built environment, cultural character, political economy, and demographic mix. Such changes often run counter to the historical currents that defined these places as factory towns. After the Factory examines the fate of industrial small cities from a variety of angles. It includes essays from a variety of disciplines that consider the sources and character of economic growth in small cities. They delve into the history of industrial small cities, explore the strategies that some have adopted, and propose new tacks for these communities as they struggle to move forward in the twenty-first century. Together, they constitute a unique look at an important and understudied dimension of urban studies and globalization.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2010
ISBN-Print
978-0-7391-4823-5
ISBN-Online
978-0-7391-4825-9
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
244
Product type
Edited Book
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Figures and Tables No access
Acknowledgments No access
CHAPTER ONE. Can They Do It? The Capacity of Small Rust-Belt Cities to Reinvent Themselves in a Global Economy No access Pages 1 - 18
CHAPTER TWO. Model Cities, Mill Towns, and Industrial Peripheries: Small Industrial Cities in Twentieth-Century America No access Pages 19 - 48
CHAPTER THREE. From Satellite City to Burb of the ’Burgh: Deindustrialization and Community Identity in Steubenville, Ohio No access Pages 49 - 86
CHAPTER FOUR. Creating an “Image Center”: Reimagining Omaha’s Downtown and Riverfront, 1986–2003 No access Pages 87 - 114
CHAPTER FIVE. The Gravity of Capital: Spatial and Economic Transformation in Muncie, Indiana, 1917–1940 No access Pages 115 - 140
CHAPTER SIX. Curing the Rust Belt? Neoliberal Health Care, Class, and Race in Mansfield, Ohio No access Pages 141 - 168
CHAPTER SEVEN. Do Economic Growth Models Explain Midwest City Growth Differences? No access Pages 169 - 186
CHAPTER EIGHT. Explaining Household Income Patterns in Rural Midwestern Counties: The Importance of Being Urban No access Pages 187 - 220
CHAPTER NINE. Small, Green, and Good: The Role of Smaller Industrial Cities in a Sustainable Future No access Pages 221 - 232
