Urban blight is a cyclical dilemma that has plagued many major American cities for generations. Great urban centers once considered to be bastions for economic opportunity, professional mobility, and relatively peaceful living environments now suffer from financial disrepair, labor drought, and a continuum of structural stagnation. Cities like my former home of Detroit (once revered as the “Paris of the West”), Baltimore, and Pittsburgh were once renowned for being national centers of industrialization and modernized work opportunities, providing a constant source of capital, work for skilled laborers, and rapid urban development. With the advent of globalization, deindustrialization, and the outsourcing of professional opportunities, many of these cities have been found noncompliant with modern times and now stand as shells of their former glory. Where booming industries like the automotive market once fueled the success of the factory system across many major cities, more expedient methods of attracting labor and capital are being utilized by struggling urban centers desperately seeking to improve their economies.
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Stone Washington is the Savas Collegiate Associate at the Manhattan Institute
This piece originally appeared in RealClearMarkets