Legacy Cities: Continuity and Change amid Decline and Revival

by J. Rosie Tighe (editor), Stephanie Ryberg-Webster (Editor)

Legacy cities, also commonly referred to as shrinking, or post-industrial cities, are places that have experienced sustained population loss and economic contraction. In the United States, legacy cities are those that are largely within the Rust Belt that thrived during the first half of the 20th century. In the second half of the century, these cities declined in economic power and population leaving a legacy of housing stock, warehouse districts, and infrastructure that is ripe for revitalization. This volume explores not only the commonalities across legacy cities in terms of industrial heritage and population decline, but also their differences. Legacy Cities poses the What are the legacies of legacy cities? How do these legacies drive contemporary urban policy, planning and decision-making? And, what are the prospects for the future of these cities? Contributors primarily focus on Cleveland, Ohio, but all Rust Belt cities are discussed.
 

272 pages, Hardcover

Published May 28, 2019

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Living in Windsor, Ontario I found a lot of the revitalization work in Cleveland interesting. The sections on housing were outdated and did not reflect the current market pressures. I would recommend it to city builders living in the Rust Belt. For those who live in Southwestern Ontario, I recommend skipping the chapters on housing.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was published 1 year before covid. The policies mentioned in this book need revisiting to show contemporary positive/negative outcomes of them in each city, and how covid shifted government and consumer behavior in each legacy city mentioned, especially on housing as was mentioned in another review. Otherwise it's just a summation of planning methods in Great Lakes/Midwest cities in the late 2010s.