A Good Place to Do Business: The Politics of Downtown Renewal since 1945

The "Pittsburgh Renaissance" transformed the city's downtown, but it also displaced working-class residents and people of color. Roger Biles and Mark Rose's book "A Good Place to Do Business" examines the politics of these government-funded redevelopment programs and how they often sacrificed neighborhoods and the livelihoods of those pushed out. Despite the efforts, many cities failed to revitalize or even their downtowns.

Format: Hardback
Length: 362 pages
Publication date: 25 October 2022
Publisher: Temple University Press,U.S.

The "Pittsburgh Renaissance," an urban renewal initiative launched in the late 1940s, significantly transformed the downtown of the smoky rust belt city. Working-class residents and people of color witnessed their neighborhoods being cleared and replaced with upscale, white residents and large corporations occupying massive skyscrapers. The apparent success of Pittsburgh's Renaissance quickly became a model for several struggling industrial cities, including St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Philadelphia. In their book, "A Good Place to Do Business," Roger Biles and Mark Rose explore these urban "makeovers" that promised increased tourism, fashionable shopping, and the development of sports stadiums, convention centers, downtown parks, and more. They delve into the politics of these government-funded redevelopment programs and reveal how city politics (and policymakers) often determined the level of success. As city officials and business elites set out to reorganize their downtowns, a deeply racialized politics sacrificed neighborhoods and the livelihoods of those who were pushed out. However, as "A Good Place to Do Business" demonstrates, costly efforts to bring about the hoped-for improvements often failed to revitalize those cities or even their downtowns.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781439920817