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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Urban Planet: Youngstown and other American cities are shrinking to survive

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If you are a Bruce Springsteen fan, you might already be aware of the hard times that have hit Youngstown, Ohio. Once a steel giant, Youngstown has lost over 100,000 residents since the ’50s and now sits in squarely in America’s Rust Belt.

In this article, Defending Youngstown: One City’s Struggle to Shrink and Flourish we see a profile of a small city that has crumbled, overrun by arsonists and crime, and is faced with incredible difficult decisions. Whole sections of the city are being cut off, as the city halts services, and demolishes buildings in order to concentrate the city.

Since 2006, the city of Youngstown has demolished 2,566 buildings in an attempt to shrink, pulling the city inward, as a matter of survival.

Image by Sean Posey

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.

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