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I feel like Grand Rapids is a good candidate for this. Most people on here don't consider it Rust Belt because it's population growth numbers. I feel like that overlooks the fact that in the late 70's going into the early 80's its downtown was nearly burnt out and abandoned, and the economy in the region was almost exclusively manufacturing. The fact that today it has one of the most regarded cores for a city it's size, and a rapidly emerging knowledge based and bioscience economy is pretty remarkable.
I feel like Grand Rapids is a good candidate for this. Most people on here don't consider it Rust Belt because it's population growth numbers. I feel like that overlooks the fact that in the late 70's going into the early 80's its downtown was nearly burnt out and abandoned, and the economy in the region was almost exclusively manufacturing. The fact that today it has one of the most regarded cores for a city it's size, and a rapidly emerging knowledge based and bioscience economy is pretty remarkable.
From people in my area that are familiar with Grand Rapids I have heard similar stories. How the downtown of the city today is almost unrecognizable from 25 years ago. It's a lot larger than most people give it credit for, over 1 million in the metro area, Michigan's second largest MSA after Detroit.
From people in my area that are familiar with Grand Rapids I have heard similar stories. How the downtown of the city today is almost unrecognizable from 25 years ago. It's a lot larger than most people give it credit for, over 1 million in the metro area, Michigan's second largest MSA after Detroit.
I think the same can be said for most city downtowns.
Back to the op, what city in Iowa is considered Rust Belt?
Back to the op, what city in Iowa is considered Rust Belt?
The Quad Cities, Waterloo and maybe Dubuque could be rust belt contenders.
The Quad Cities lost 20,000 jobs in only a few years during the early 1980's.
Waterloo lost over 15% of its population within a few years and the city was blanketed by abandoned homes. It's stabilized over the past few decades, but still hasn't grown since the 1970's.
Agreed. I thought it was odd how many people are suggesting Chicago is a recovered Rust Belt city.
Because they equate the Midwest being the Rust Belt but little do they know there's cities on the East Coast that are Rust Belt or was considered Rust Belt at one time.
Chicago has never been considered a Rust Belt city. Midwest doesn't equal Rust Belt.
I have seen Chicago referred to as being in the Rust belt and can agree with that. Rust belt status is defined by *deindustrialization*. Ever been down to the far South Side where the steel mills used to employ thousands of people and support hundreds of ancillary businesses? Ever ride through the West Side or Northwest Side on the Metra trains past the miles and miles of derilect factories? All of that represented a huge part of Chicago's economy until they all went bust in the 70s/80s. That's Rust Belt.
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