
Renewing America’s economic promise through older industrial cities - uptown
https://www.brookings.edu/research/older-industrial-cities/
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tabtab
You have to be willing to tolerate "outsiders" with unfamiliar cultures who
come and go to attract new industries. World trade is growing ever more
intertwined such that xenophobia will slice your economic chances.

Paranoid-inducing TV and AM pundits have made the mid-west into xenophobes, I
hate to say. They think there is a organized conspiracy to take away their
rifles, outlaw Christianity, and make men wear dresses. I exaggerate a little,
but not much.

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Endama
I wonder if there are studies that explore what the loss on investment is.
That is to say, if we were to repurpose those older industrialized towns to
more modern needs, would the cost on renovating the existing infrastructure be
more cost effective than say, building new infrastructure in existing smaller
but more popular cities? It seems to me that we may be throwing away a lot of
good existing infra to be found in these older cities.

~~~
sudosteph
That's a good question. I imagine it's not a one size fits all type of
solution though.

Where I'm from, the outskirts of Charlotte NC, a lot of the old "industrial"
buildings were cotton mills. Many of them sat empty for years, or just became
warehouses after the industry left, and were considered a blight. Eventually
some areas started growing more and changed zoning laws, so these old mills
redeveloped into prime real estate for restaurants and breweries.

However I wonder if the story would have been different if the mills were more
like the factories in north and midwest. I don't have a good comparison point,
but the mills which tended to work out for redevelopment typically were:

\- 1 or 2 story brick buildings, so typically no need for elevators. \- Ample
windows and a good size parking lot \- Not too large \- Located in an area
with growth from other industries \- Not exposed to too many harmful materials

for example, this mill which was empty for many years:

[http://www.cmhpf.org/S&Rs%20Alphabetical%20Order/surveys&rDa...](http://www.cmhpf.org/S&Rs%20Alphabetical%20Order/surveys&rDavidsonCotton.htm)

Now looks like this: [https://www.visitlakenorman.org/listing/davidson-cotton-
mill...](https://www.visitlakenorman.org/listing/davidson-cotton-mill/1744/)

Meanwhile, a few blocks over, on a piece of land that is even closer to main
street, there's a dilapidated building that was formerly an asbestos factory.
In comparison, it has nearly no windows and even tearing it down is risky due
to the materials which were dumped by the factory:
[http://wfae.org/post/davidson-mill-redevelopment-unearths-
as...](http://wfae.org/post/davidson-mill-redevelopment-unearths-asbestos-old-
tensions#stream/0)

------
several
The article doesn't address this, but one way to renew older industrial cities
would be to connect these cities to more vibrant cities through better public
transportation.

For instance, both Lowell and Worcester in MA are each less than 50 miles from
Boston, when measuring city center to city center. Both cities fell on hard
times in the 20th century, but reliable rail with 20-30 minute travel times is
technical feasible and would do wonders for both cites, not to mention help
relieve the severe housing shortage around Boston.

