I also have lived in Pittsburgh for the last 10 years as this author but I have to say I have a different impression of the city. One of my employers had an ori

I also have lived in Pittsburgh for the last 10 years as this author but I have to say I have a different impression of the city. One of my employers had an orientation on Pittsburgh a few years ago and brought in some city planners who talked about the successes and failures of some of their initiatives - the South Side Works and Homestead Waterfront. Their main objective was to integrate neighborhoods with the riverfront which had historically been pretty destroyed by industry and was now ripe for rehabilitation. For all of their effort and good intentions they had mixed success. South side does nicely slide into the Works but Homestead remains to this day awkwardly separated from the Waterfront. Other neighborhoods have gentrified with terrifying speed - Lawrenceville and East Liberty are the two that come to mind. I know poorer folks sitting on properties that have likely tripled in value in the last 10 years alone. Other neighborhoods seem perfectly situated for gentrification and somehow years go by and nothing changes. I think it's too easy to attempt to 'model' (simplify) these dynamics to attempt to provide evidence for some sort of narrative. White flight happened in many locations around this country, gentrification is happening now. These are opposite movements of people that both get criticized. Reality tends to be much more complex than we would like and doesn't like to play by pre-determined rules. Who knows what the upper and middle class will be criticized for 20 years from now or what these cities will look like? In the 90's Pittsburgh was a complete disaster.