I think you nailed it in terms of the core elements of Rust Belt Urbanism, although I feel like the term “Rust Belt” has long outlived its usefulness as a term that helps provide insight or greater understanding into the group of historical manufacturing hubs centered on the Great Lakes.
My perspective is admittedly shaped by my experiences throughout Wisconsin and in particular the Milwaukee area, where I feel like we are already well into the “post-Rust Belt” era. I was intrigued in late 2023 by the Conde Naste annual reader’s survey in which Milwaukee trailed only San Diego (#2) and Chicago (#1) as a best big city in the US for business and leisure travelers. I think rust belt urbanism plays a large part in this popularity, with the renovation of extraordinary industrial complexes like the Pabst and Schlitz Breweries no longer works in progress but now complete, and the riverfront (that was largely a blighted industrial wasteland) nearly fully converted into what I consider to be the best riverwalk system in the US (Milwaukee’s riverwalk is authentic – San Antonio’s was conceived by the same architect that designed Disneyland).
I would argue that rust belt urbanism isn’t just a hope and “potential” for the future, its already fully ascendant on a national level in some areas of the "former rust belt"
I live in Florida. In the past few years I've visited Chicago and Minneapolis. I intend to visit Columbus in about a month, and want to visit the rest of the Rust Belt cities eventually. When I make my next move I'll consider the Rust Belt but I'll also look pretty much anywhere in the US that isn't a superstar coastal city or Florida.
I think you nailed it in terms of the core elements of Rust Belt Urbanism, although I feel like the term “Rust Belt” has long outlived its usefulness as a term that helps provide insight or greater understanding into the group of historical manufacturing hubs centered on the Great Lakes.
My perspective is admittedly shaped by my experiences throughout Wisconsin and in particular the Milwaukee area, where I feel like we are already well into the “post-Rust Belt” era. I was intrigued in late 2023 by the Conde Naste annual reader’s survey in which Milwaukee trailed only San Diego (#2) and Chicago (#1) as a best big city in the US for business and leisure travelers. I think rust belt urbanism plays a large part in this popularity, with the renovation of extraordinary industrial complexes like the Pabst and Schlitz Breweries no longer works in progress but now complete, and the riverfront (that was largely a blighted industrial wasteland) nearly fully converted into what I consider to be the best riverwalk system in the US (Milwaukee’s riverwalk is authentic – San Antonio’s was conceived by the same architect that designed Disneyland).
I would argue that rust belt urbanism isn’t just a hope and “potential” for the future, its already fully ascendant on a national level in some areas of the "former rust belt"
I live in Florida. In the past few years I've visited Chicago and Minneapolis. I intend to visit Columbus in about a month, and want to visit the rest of the Rust Belt cities eventually. When I make my next move I'll consider the Rust Belt but I'll also look pretty much anywhere in the US that isn't a superstar coastal city or Florida.
Excellent, as usual.