Rust Belt

An introduction to a four-story package on the misunderstood middle of our nation.

In a new book, urban revitalization expert Alan Mallach argues that much of what you think you know about cities today is wrong.

A new essay collection showcases Rust Belt writers on topics like desegregation, clean water, racism, classism, and what it's like to be misunderstood by the coasts.

PS Picks is a selection of the best things that the magazine's staff and contributors are reading, watching, or otherwise paying attention to in the worlds of art, politics, and culture.

The U.S. doesn’t spend enough money on labor market adjustment programs.

National pride, not economic dislocation, fuels the current wave of right-wing populism.

By measuring place, the Distressed Communities Index does a poor job of assessing people.

Tour the psychogeography of Rust Belt shame.

With a focus on why people leave, we ignore at least half of the migration story.

Communities might roll out the red carpet for the foreign-born, but the more welcoming disposition doesn't do the trick.

The later the economic boom, the greater the municipal area.

Attract one person and an entire village will follow.

In Europe, women are valued for their fertility, not productivity.

Atlantic Canada is reportedly dying. I'll spend this week explaining why that isn't the case.

Too much social capital—not too little—is driving a wedge of income inequality between Americans.

Not really. Common problems, regardless of place, will lead to common solutions.

Silicon Shore. Silicon Beach. Silicon Roundabout. How many different technology hubs can we have? Like the untethering of manufacturing from regional natural resources that crushed the Rust Belt, Silicon Valley's one-time advantage of a high concentration of venture capitalists matters less and less as the cost of technology falls.

With real estate markets tapped out in primary markets, investors will look to secondary ones—Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Phoenix—with legacy assets.

Population change obscures more than it illuminates.

The loss of the U.S. Airways hub signaled the start of Pittsburgh's remarkable turnaround. Does that make United Airlines' departure from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport a cause for celebration?

The Rust Belt will rise again.

The dominant view of dying cities is outdated and wrong, and journalists are largely responsible for the geographic misconceptions.

"Manufacturing is no longer just about production. Production is now the core of a much wider set of activities."

What's happening with institutions of higher education and medicine?