Revitalizing American Cities

Small and midsized cities played a key role in the Industrial Revolution in the United States as hubs for the shipping, warehousing, and distribution of manufactured products. But as the twentieth century brought cheaper transportation and faster communication, these cities were hit hard by population losses and economic decline. In the twenty-first century, many former industrial hubs--from Springfield to Wichita, from Providence to Columbus--are finding pathways to reinvention. With innovative urban policies and design, once-declining cities are becoming the unlikely pioneers of postindustrial urban revitalization.

Revitalizing American Cities explores the historical, regional, and political factors that have allowed some industrial cities to regain their footing in a changing economy. The volume discusses national patterns and drivers of growth and decline, presents case studies and comparative analyses of decline and renewal, considers approaches to the problems that accompany the vacant land and blight common to many of the country's declining cities, and examines tactics that cities can use to prosper in a changing economy. Featuring contributions from scholars and experts of urban planning, economic development, public policy, and education, Revitalizing American Cities provides a detailed, illuminating look at past and possible reinventions of resilient American cities.

Contributors: Frank S. Alexander, Eugenie L. Birch, Paul C. Brophy, Steven Cochrane, Gilles Duranton, Sean Ellis, Kyle Fee, Edward Glaeser, Daniel Hartley, Yolanda K. Kodrzycki, Sophia Koropeckyj, Alan Mallach, Ana Patricia Muñoz, Jeremy Nowak, Laura W. Perna, Aaron Smith, Catherine Tumber, Susan M. Wachter, Kimberly A. Zeuli.

Author: Susan M. Wachter
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 12/05/2013
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.50lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780812245554

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2014

About the Author
Susan M. Wachter is the Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance, The Wharton School; Professor of City and Regional Planning, School of Design; and Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, at the University of Pennsylvania. Kimberly A. Zeuli is Senior Vice President and Director of Research and Advisory Services for the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. She has held faculty positions at the University of Kentucky and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was formerly Vice President of Community Development for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.