A Rust Belt Chic manifesto (Pittsburgh, Industry: live, self-storage, rating)

[BrianTH]

There is too much of this going around these days to post everything relevant, but this struck me as a particularly thoughtful piece:

Rust Belt Chic: Not Just for Hipsters | Rust Wire

Not necessarily the most important passage, but I see echoes of the City Data Pittsburgh Forum here:

In fact the best revitalization efforts occur by bringing the past into the present—or by seeing what was there, understanding how it failed, and then integrating those mistakes into a plan for the future. This is how individuals revitalize broken lives. So why is it not apropos for a collection of individuals in their attempts to revitalize a broken city?

Although I might note I don't think we are broken--just bent up quite a bit.

[squarian]

Rust Belt Chic leverages a person’s attachment to place to get them reinvested in that place. And no doubt, folks in the Rust Belt are attached: to their place and culture, to plain-spoken talk and mannerisms secured by red blood restraint, to blue-collar values and roots. Granted, it can be a restrictive attachment, one primarily defined by separation.

Local translation: Yinzer, on'y hip n'at.

You see, this attachment—it fostered a complacency that held the region back. We became too secure in our way of life. We held onto old industry, and innovation passed us by, and so went the jobs. We were kind of like the dude who loved the thing so much he held it until its suffocation.

Local translation: Jus' Yinzer.

[BrianTH]

Speaking of Rust Belt Chic:

Self Storage Industry News | Guardian Self-Storage in Pittsburgh Hosts Art Exhibit

[eccotecc]

Brian,

Great article. Thanks for sharing.

[stevo6]

Quote:
In fact the best revitalization efforts occur by bringing the past into the present—or by seeing what was there, understanding how it failed, and then integrating those mistakes into a plan for the future. This is how individuals revitalize broken lives. So why is it not apropos for a collection of individuals in their attempts to revitalize a broken city?


I don't we really want to "integrate the mistakes" do we? Typo maybe???

[ditchdigger]

I don't we really want to "integrate the mistakes" do we? Typo maybe???

You don't (what)we really want to "integrate the mistakes" do we?

(I know what you were saying, and I thought the same thing when I read that sentence. It is poorly expressed, although I also think we both knew what they were trying to say too...)