The Remaking Cities Institute’s research and programming on resilient industrial regions is continuing to contribute to a transatlantic dialogue on challenges and opportunities.
Don Carter’s research and insights on remaking post-industrial cities are highlighted in the newly published interactive report Transforming Industrial Regions of North America and Europe: Opportunity and Imperative. Carter, former director and Senior Research Fellow at Remaking Cities Institute, spoke at the 2021 symposium hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and its partner organizations: Georgetown University’s BMW Center for German and European Studies, the Michigan Economic Center, Policy@Manchester at the University of Manchester, and the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Chicago. The symposium spoke explicitly to the challenges of populism to the transition to a less carbon-dependent economy, and the disaffection of communities that feel left behind. It also spoke to the ineffectiveness of top-down policies, from Pittsburgh to Manchester, where Mayor Andy Burnham spoke to the appeal of locally rooted solutions, and Dortmund, where Mayor Thomas Westphal outlined the city’s bottom-up plan for economic transformation.
Carter included the history of the 1970s and 80s collapse of the steel industry in the Pittsburgh region and the still unfinished transformative work that followed in his talk. His summary of the lessons learned from the Pittsburgh approach is included in the report (Carter 2021):
It takes time
The scale is metropolitan
You need a long-term vision
Diversify the economy
Be bold, take risks
You can’t do it alone
Leadership is important
Citizen engagement is also important
Strengthen the central city
Invest in culture, heritage, and quality of life
Invest in education
Develop equitably and sustainably
Good planning and urban design matter
In related news, Carter, editor and contributing author of Remaking Post-Industrial Cities: Lessons from North America and Europe (Routledge) has turned his attention to smaller post-industrial communities as well, publishing “Remaking Small Post-Industrial Towns” in PER: Preservation Education & Research 13/2021 (University of Minnesota Press). Pittsburgh region communities in the article include McKees Rocks, Millvale, Etna, and Sharpsburg. Carter concludes that “New lessons have come out of this research. In addition to civic pride of the people (their strongest asset), these four small post-industrial towns, and others like them, have three additional strengths on which to capitalize: existing infrastructure and historic fabric, abundant fresh water, and their location within a regional conurbation.”
Ray Gastil, RCI director, notes that “Don is a leading voice on lessons learned from this region’s resilience, a project that is far from over.” Gastil, who spoke in November at the European Commission’s “Just Transition of Carbon-Intensive Regions: Transatlantic Dialogue” forum, adds that RCI will be sustaining this dialogue in 2022, including programs with the Ruhr region which will be announced in early 2022.