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Pittsburgh greatly underperforms its reputational turnaround, and the urban repopulation trend of the last 30 or so years has passed it by. 300,000 residents are left to try keeping up an infrastructure that once served nearly 700,000, a task made that much harder by the city's geographical challenges.
It's still remarkably livable for a city with less than half its peak population as it never descended into a full-blown urban hell-scape like other similarly depopulated cities did. But that hasn't been enough to attract people back to the city.
I just recently learned about what happened in St. Louis. St. Louis will be fine. It's on water. They are just waiting it out, but I don't think that strategy will work as well as it has in the past.
St. Louis has to continue to grow its stem base. That appears to be where the future is for cities. I still believe as automation continues to evolve, that will begin to separate the haves from the have not. Cities that rely on tourism and a unskilled work force will not offer a high quality of life. Atlanta is a perfect example of a city that continues to reinvent itself and has a bright future. St. Louis has to totally reinvent itself by developing regional growth strategies and pooling more of its resources. There will have to be a city county merger of some sort now.
Pittsburgh greatly underperforms its reputational turnaround, and the urban repopulation trend of the last 30 or so years has passed it by. 300,000 residents are left to try keeping up an infrastructure that once served nearly 700,000, a task made that much harder by the city's geographical challenges.
It's still remarkably livable for a city with less than half its peak population as it never descended into a full-blown urban hell-scape like other similarly depopulated cities did. But that hasn't been enough to attract people back to the city.
Pittsburgh is another one I was hearing about in the 2000s as expected to make a huge resurgence. The Steel City had so many cheerleaders on this board claiming it had been transformed and would soon surpass the likes of Baltimore as a top 20 metro. Sadly, the data shows the city has only continued to decline every census. Quite frankly I’m confused about this though, because whenever I’m on the ground in Pittsburgh it feels like such a vibrant city. I’ve only watched casually from afar, but projects like the PNC Tower, light rail expansion, riverfront developments, etc. suggest Pittsburgh is doing well. Why aren’t people moving there?
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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I would put San Diego on this list. It is an elephant with its tail tied to the tree.
Living in the shadows of LA is one component but residents often are resistant to reaching its full growth potential and long time residents will still tell you they prefer decades ago when it was less crowded. One pro sports team for the 8th largest US city (same number as much smaller cities such as Green Bay, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and San Antonio) and a 1 runway non-legacy airport hub exemplify this point. There are definite areas where it has made progress over the years (Petco Park—though even that had its opponents, Little Italy, etc) but it just feels like a sleeping giant with so much more potential—yet many prefer it that way.
I enjoyed it very much when I first moved there, especially initially coming down from the LA/OC metro for its slower pace, but after awhile and having lived in other bustling large metros I outgrew it based on its smaller city mentality and my desire for the greater number and caliber of urban amenities found elsewhere that I ended up missing.
Last edited by elchevere; 07-14-2022 at 07:38 AM..
Pittsburgh is another one I was hearing about in the 2000s as expected to make a huge resurgence. The Steel City had so many cheerleaders on this board claiming it had been transformed and would soon surpass the likes of Baltimore as a top 20 metro. Sadly, the data shows the city has only continued to decline every census. Quite frankly I’m confused about this though, because whenever I’m on the ground in Pittsburgh it feels like such a vibrant city. I’ve only watched casually from afar, but projects like the PNC Tower, light rail expansion, riverfront developments, etc. suggest Pittsburgh is doing well. Why aren’t people moving there?
I think the conundrum with a place like Pittsburgh is true of most of the "Rust Belt" region of the US.
The city has definitely experienced an incredible economic shift allowing it to "stay afloat," and I think the data bear out that the city actually was/is attracting more newcomers than it has in decades, even keeping relative pace with out-migration.
However, the flip side of that coin is natural decline. Because the region is disproportionately elderly and white with much less immigration than coastal metro areas, even Pittsburgh's economic transformation is no match for demographic trends.
Many folks often forget that the vast majority of population growth in any city is going to originate from natural growth (more births than deaths). So when the primary engine for population begins to go into negative territory (more deaths than births) as it has in Pittsburgh for a number of years now, it doesn't come as much of a shock that its population hasn't "boomed," even with economic reinvention.
Rochester diatribe aside, I’ll give these two cities to consider, rounding out my three picks.
Detroit - Obvious answer, but imagine if they had sorted out their issues and stopped the bleeding early on, diversified the economy, attracted young professionals back into the city, addressed poverty and crime. I can envision a scenario where Detroit becomes the Atlanta of the North. A bustling city known for Black wealth, deep culture, affluent suburbs and a modern logistics hub.
Albuquerque - This is an interesting city that has struggled compared to other cities in Southwest. The explosive growth of Phoenix and Vegas never really extended to ABQ, but New Mexico is certainly a beautiful place you’d think would attract more people.
Additionally since we sometimes discuss Canadian cities on this forum, I have always been puzzled by the small size of Halifax. We’re going back to colonial times with this one, but I’ve always felt historically Halifax should’ve developed as the Boston of Canada. It was such an important Atlantic port city well positioned in Nova Scotia compared to the further inland giants like Montreal and Toronto that grew into the powerhouses they became. Halifax missed its mark hundreds of years ago.
If select midwestern cities got their ish together and could join forces with others in the region, the midwest would give the coastal areas a run for their money. The midwest has more land. Unfortunately, this is a pipe dream. Too many chiefs.....
The fundamental issue is that the number of Midwest cities is out of whack with the number of people who want to live in them. Yes, the number.
Compare the Pacific Northwest with the Midwest. More people want to live in the latter, by a wide margin I assume. But the Northwest has two big cities and the Midwest at least 10. So any migration (the portion that prefer big cities) is spread among the 10 rather than concentrated into just two.
The second is almost certainly the weather, which limits that inbound population and encourages people to move out.
The third might be each city's role in the economy, with its strengths and weaknesses, which can become more or less relevant over time. Midwest cities tend to lack the strengths that would cause booms, which tend to be along the lines of "closest city to X" or "dominates Y industry."
I would put San Diego on this list. It is an elephant with its tail tied to the tree.
Living in the shadows of LA is one component but residents often are resistant to reaching its full growth potential and long time residents will still tell you they prefer decades ago when it was less crowded. One pro sports team for the 8th largest US city (same number as much smaller cities such as Green Bay, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and San Antonio) and a 1 runway non-legacy airport hub exemplify this point. There are definite areas where it has made progress over the years (Petco Park—though even that had its opponents, Little Italy, etc) but it just feels like a sleeping giant with so much more potential—yet many prefer it that way.
I enjoyed it very much when I first moved there, especially initially coming down from the LA/OC metro for its slower pace, but after awhile and having lived in other bustling large metros I outgrew it based on its smaller city mentality and my desire for the greater number and caliber of urban amenities found elsewhere that I ended up missing.
Why would pro teams care about the population within city limits?
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays25
Why would pro teams care about the population within city limits?
My point was about the 8th largest city (17th largest MSA….plus the ability to draw from nearby Tijuana) in the country only having 1 pro sports team, among other items such as being the largest metro without a legacy airline hub. Makes the city/MSA feel smaller than it actually is.
Last edited by elchevere; 07-14-2022 at 11:28 AM..
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