I think people instinctively recognize the old urban forms as the relics of a civilization that no longer exists, whereas the strip mall is contemporary banal. Ie, nobody doubts that a decayed strip mall could be replaced by a “better” strip mall quickly and easily. But the Main Street buildings - even if they are just a brick facade - represents something we don’t make anymore.
Towns, like companies and people, need to have more than one skill. Compare Enid and Ponca. Both about the same size in the same geography and history. Enid had Champlin, Vance Air Force base, Speedstar drilling equipment and Union Equity grain elevators. Ponca had Conoco and nothing else. Champlin and Conoco both moved to Houston in the 80s. Ponca was lost, but Enid could fall back on the other skills. The air force base is the most substantial.
Companies with two or three main lines could survive when one line grew unpopular or over-regulated or exported.
Of course EVERYTHING is offshored now, so the only survivors are defense contractors and stock traders.
Moral: Get a gummint job.
China is succeeding because everything is a gummint job. They don't rely on stock traders.
I worked in manufacturing and am a vet, so ive lived all over the country and also in japan. I think one thing to note is in some high volume industries, manufacturing became more productive due to automation - and that is why cars are still built in detroit. In other industries, the manufacturing moved to cheaper areas - yes, Mexico and Asia, but also the South, which up to the '90s was viewed with the same condescension the rust belt now receives.
It isnt fair to those old towns - they were special to so many people - but the globalized economy has allowed us to have higher standards of living than our parents, outside the cost of housing. And has allowed people on Mexico and the South to have middle class opportunities, like it gave our parents and grandparents thst opportunity in Michigan and the like.
Finally, it IS possible to be a rich country and make many things (maybe not all things) in our borders. Japan and Germany do it, and we do it more than most people know. Why do we do it in the South and, sometimes, in superstar cities? How does Japan keep it in Tokyo's burbs? How does Germany do it? I dont know the answer but beyond economics, i think the pandemic showed their is a securitybenefit in being able to make things here (a lesson we also learned in WW2, and while we hope to never need to do that again it seems foolish to ignore that lesson).
Beyond manufacturing - a lot of these cities and towns were always a part of the globalized economy. Detroit and Chicago were useful Great Lakes ports for the French and Indian fur trade. Chicago was a useful portage between the Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. The industry changed, from fur to meat in chicago and lumber in Detroit - but the transportation utility remained, even if it then included railroads. Then a numbet of automakers agglomerated in Detroit and one of them put the world on wheels and nobody alive can remember what either of those cities was like before. But even before, they existed due to demand for good they could uniquely provide.
So i dont know what the answer is. New York has reinvented itself into a media capital. LA is a superstar city but rather devoid of natural resources. The Sun Belt cities east if California have all invented or reinvented themselves in the last fifty years. Im not aure how old insutrial northern cities will adapt, but im confident it will involve capitalism - selling something that the world wanrs. And maybe take a look at Indianapolis and the Twin Cities and see how theyve been so successful in the last thirty yeara?
A smart guy with a cheap laptop can start some kind of internet business in his spare bedroom. But if you actually want to MAKE something – a physical, tangible product – you need to raise millions from investors who will wait patiently while you build and test prototypes, order tooling and materials, set up your production line, hire and train workers and hope to hell the customers actually show up.
Adding to this very challenging process is public policy which, on so many levels, is hostile to manufacturing.
On the local level you have zoning and permitting processes that not only delay the opening of your factory but also obstruct the development of affordable housing for your employees. At the state and federal levels, you have workplace, product and environmental regulations that are often devoid of all common sense and cost effectiveness, that value process and paperwork over results.
And also at the federal level, you have fiscal and monetary policies that maintain distorted currency valuations, putting your American made “widget” at a distinct disadvantage against international competitors.
Finally, if after running this gauntlet you manage to turn a profit, it will be taxed three ways: The “revenue minus expenses” income of your business, and the dividends and capital gains paid out to those patient investors.
I think you can't underestimate "the fear that whatever would replace it would be worse" as a factor because it seems like most of the time it IS worse. I don't believe that modern buildings can't be good, but I do believe that the vast majority of the time no one seems to want to put the effort into making them good. Yes, I confess to a love for the shabby and decrepit, but I'm also capable of walking into, say, a shiny new soaring, sunny atrium and thinking "huh, this is kind of cool." But none of the redevelopment in my town has made me feel that way. It ranges from meh to actively cheap and ugly looking. I'm constantly saying to myself "Why do all the people who go into the business of buildings seem to hate buildings?" Because that's all I can conclude about them both from the evidence of what they tear down and what they build.
There some new towns after 1953 projects which were developed according to large master plans and preceded the New Urbanists' projects: Columbia, MD (William Rouse); The Woodlands, TX (George Mitchell; and Jonathan, MN (?).
Yes, also Reston! I think of those as kind of proto-new urbanist, and also not quite traditionally laid out compared to the old cities. But they’re worth noting. I think they were called New Towns
I see two reasons why deserted strip malls generate less of an emotional reaction. The first is the human cost. If a strip mall's anchor business goes out of business, it usually means people both work and get their goods elsewhere; there isn't this assumption that the store was responsible for employing a large portion of the area. Amazon killing Sears is the part of creative destruction we can usually appreciate.
The second is that picture shows a clean break, as opposed to a zombie city. Completely abandoned storefronts means the area moved on, even if that meant the town declined in size and stature. If the only businesses open are a smoke shop, pawn shop, and a liquor store, it sends a different message.
The situation is sad, but I think what really vexes people is how complex and nuanced it is. I doubt any one policy would have changed things. It's about unions and the Nixon Shock and the two oil embargoes and how Paul Volker got inflation under control. I have more to add, but it's after midnight so it will have to wait.
I think people instinctively recognize the old urban forms as the relics of a civilization that no longer exists, whereas the strip mall is contemporary banal. Ie, nobody doubts that a decayed strip mall could be replaced by a “better” strip mall quickly and easily. But the Main Street buildings - even if they are just a brick facade - represents something we don’t make anymore.
Towns, like companies and people, need to have more than one skill. Compare Enid and Ponca. Both about the same size in the same geography and history. Enid had Champlin, Vance Air Force base, Speedstar drilling equipment and Union Equity grain elevators. Ponca had Conoco and nothing else. Champlin and Conoco both moved to Houston in the 80s. Ponca was lost, but Enid could fall back on the other skills. The air force base is the most substantial.
Companies with two or three main lines could survive when one line grew unpopular or over-regulated or exported.
Of course EVERYTHING is offshored now, so the only survivors are defense contractors and stock traders.
Moral: Get a gummint job.
China is succeeding because everything is a gummint job. They don't rely on stock traders.
I worked in manufacturing and am a vet, so ive lived all over the country and also in japan. I think one thing to note is in some high volume industries, manufacturing became more productive due to automation - and that is why cars are still built in detroit. In other industries, the manufacturing moved to cheaper areas - yes, Mexico and Asia, but also the South, which up to the '90s was viewed with the same condescension the rust belt now receives.
It isnt fair to those old towns - they were special to so many people - but the globalized economy has allowed us to have higher standards of living than our parents, outside the cost of housing. And has allowed people on Mexico and the South to have middle class opportunities, like it gave our parents and grandparents thst opportunity in Michigan and the like.
Finally, it IS possible to be a rich country and make many things (maybe not all things) in our borders. Japan and Germany do it, and we do it more than most people know. Why do we do it in the South and, sometimes, in superstar cities? How does Japan keep it in Tokyo's burbs? How does Germany do it? I dont know the answer but beyond economics, i think the pandemic showed their is a securitybenefit in being able to make things here (a lesson we also learned in WW2, and while we hope to never need to do that again it seems foolish to ignore that lesson).
Beyond manufacturing - a lot of these cities and towns were always a part of the globalized economy. Detroit and Chicago were useful Great Lakes ports for the French and Indian fur trade. Chicago was a useful portage between the Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. The industry changed, from fur to meat in chicago and lumber in Detroit - but the transportation utility remained, even if it then included railroads. Then a numbet of automakers agglomerated in Detroit and one of them put the world on wheels and nobody alive can remember what either of those cities was like before. But even before, they existed due to demand for good they could uniquely provide.
So i dont know what the answer is. New York has reinvented itself into a media capital. LA is a superstar city but rather devoid of natural resources. The Sun Belt cities east if California have all invented or reinvented themselves in the last fifty years. Im not aure how old insutrial northern cities will adapt, but im confident it will involve capitalism - selling something that the world wanrs. And maybe take a look at Indianapolis and the Twin Cities and see how theyve been so successful in the last thirty yeara?
Great comment, thank you!
A smart guy with a cheap laptop can start some kind of internet business in his spare bedroom. But if you actually want to MAKE something – a physical, tangible product – you need to raise millions from investors who will wait patiently while you build and test prototypes, order tooling and materials, set up your production line, hire and train workers and hope to hell the customers actually show up.
Adding to this very challenging process is public policy which, on so many levels, is hostile to manufacturing.
On the local level you have zoning and permitting processes that not only delay the opening of your factory but also obstruct the development of affordable housing for your employees. At the state and federal levels, you have workplace, product and environmental regulations that are often devoid of all common sense and cost effectiveness, that value process and paperwork over results.
And also at the federal level, you have fiscal and monetary policies that maintain distorted currency valuations, putting your American made “widget” at a distinct disadvantage against international competitors.
Finally, if after running this gauntlet you manage to turn a profit, it will be taxed three ways: The “revenue minus expenses” income of your business, and the dividends and capital gains paid out to those patient investors.
Great comment
I think you can't underestimate "the fear that whatever would replace it would be worse" as a factor because it seems like most of the time it IS worse. I don't believe that modern buildings can't be good, but I do believe that the vast majority of the time no one seems to want to put the effort into making them good. Yes, I confess to a love for the shabby and decrepit, but I'm also capable of walking into, say, a shiny new soaring, sunny atrium and thinking "huh, this is kind of cool." But none of the redevelopment in my town has made me feel that way. It ranges from meh to actively cheap and ugly looking. I'm constantly saying to myself "Why do all the people who go into the business of buildings seem to hate buildings?" Because that's all I can conclude about them both from the evidence of what they tear down and what they build.
There some new towns after 1953 projects which were developed according to large master plans and preceded the New Urbanists' projects: Columbia, MD (William Rouse); The Woodlands, TX (George Mitchell; and Jonathan, MN (?).
Yes, also Reston! I think of those as kind of proto-new urbanist, and also not quite traditionally laid out compared to the old cities. But they’re worth noting. I think they were called New Towns
I see two reasons why deserted strip malls generate less of an emotional reaction. The first is the human cost. If a strip mall's anchor business goes out of business, it usually means people both work and get their goods elsewhere; there isn't this assumption that the store was responsible for employing a large portion of the area. Amazon killing Sears is the part of creative destruction we can usually appreciate.
The second is that picture shows a clean break, as opposed to a zombie city. Completely abandoned storefronts means the area moved on, even if that meant the town declined in size and stature. If the only businesses open are a smoke shop, pawn shop, and a liquor store, it sends a different message.
Gary was called the armpit of America for a damn good reason. The only thing good about it was the Jacksons yo 😂
I’m from Chicago and Gary just needs to industrialize already. It was ki
The situation is sad, but I think what really vexes people is how complex and nuanced it is. I doubt any one policy would have changed things. It's about unions and the Nixon Shock and the two oil embargoes and how Paul Volker got inflation under control. I have more to add, but it's after midnight so it will have to wait.
That and it was an environmental disaster 😂