3 ms·

Wouldn't these be good examples? Boston is a pre-car city that weathered population decline well. Detroit was a city that rebuilt itself around the car and expe

• ghaff 4y ago
  The levels of decline were different however. As were a lot of other particulars. Boston/Cambridge long had a major research university base as well as a fair bit of industry especially in East Cambridge and what's now the Seaport area. Also a significant financial/legal/etc. district. A lot of the industry did have significant declines maybe a couple of times in the 20th century. East Cambridge was really only revitalized in a major way when Pharma/biotech came in during the 80s/90s--and the Seaport redevelopment is ongoing. There certainly have been efforts in Detroit and apparently the riverfront gentrification has progressed considerably but the city as a whole still is in generally poor shape and for a variety of reasons is probably less attractive overall than coastal cities are. ADDED: And Boston may be a "pre-car city" and does have a decent public transit system but most adults still own cars because a lot of their friends and activities will be outside the city.
• throwaway0a5e 4y ago
  Detroit never rebuilt because intellectuals in places like Boston cooked up economic policies that pulled the rug out from under American manufacturing and heavy industry with predictable consequences for any city depending upon them.
  • ghaff 4y ago
    Cambridge and Boston had a significant manufacturing base at one point. https://historycambridge.org/industry/ https://historycambridge.org/industry/