Reviving the post-industrial city without destroying it
Posted July 30, 2010 in Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably
Syracuse, New York in many ways resembles a typical once-industrial city that is past its prime. But is it, really? A superficial reading of the trends might lead one to say yes, it’s “shrinking”: the city’s population, which stood at 221,000 in 1950, has now declined to 147,000, a loss of 34 percent. That sounds serious, but during roughly the same period Washington, DC, where I live, lost over 200,000 people, a decline of 30%. Now, DC’s population is starting to grow again, and no one would call it a “shrinking city.”
The truth is that central cities all over America suffered significant losses from the 1950s forward, due to racially-tinged “white flight,” increasing crime, declining school quality, increased mobility, and a self-perpetuating cycle of disinvestment. This did result in abandoned properties in many cities, including Syracuse:
I'll concede that the prospects for and pace of recovery vary from one place to another, in significant part due to economic factors. But in the majority of cases most of the flight was simply to the cities’ suburbs. Syracuse lost population only when one looks at the artificial political boundary of the central city. Its Wikipedia entry reports that, “although city population has declined since 1950, the Syracuse metropolitan area population has remained fairly stable, even growing by 2.5 percent since 1970.” That’s a much slower growth rate than, say, metro Washington’s, but the point is that what really happened in Syracuse was not a decline but a hollowing out, accompanied by suburban sprawl.
The distinction makes a difference, because if a region is sprawling while stable or growing in population, our response to losses in the central city should be different than if the whole region is in irreversible decline. There may be a stronger argument for giving up on abandoned properties and neighborhoods in the latter case (if not as strong as some argue) than in the former. But, where a region is still sprawling, the proper response in my opinion is to apply measures to stem the sprawl while simultaneously taking advantage of the availability of urban property for smart revitalization in the core. This is especially the case given that all the market and demographic signs point to more demand for an urban lifestyle; the 21st century paradigm is likely to be a revival of central cities accompanied by a suburban decline (if there is any decline in a region) rather than what we experienced in the latter part of the 20th century.
A group of far-sighted leaders in Syracuse gets this, writes Roberta Brandes Gratz on CitiWire, and they are taking steps to regenerate their city. Brandes Gratz especially cites Mayor Stephanie Miner, Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor, and Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney. Instead of tearing old neighborhoods down, as is happening in some other cities, they are restoring and building. Brandes Gratz quotes Mayor Miner:
“We live with decades of bad decisions to tear down too much of our city,” says Mayor Miner. “I drive by some of those mistakes every day. The easy route might be to tear down more but, then you have to ask, where is our soul, who are we?”
The biggest challenge, she says, is overcoming the state and federal regulations that make this revitalization direction so difficult. “We lobbied hard for the state tax credit for historic building restorations and we have to work equally hard to overcome all sorts of regulations to make things more flexible.”
Brandes Gratz continues:
“Downtown vibrancy is real and spreading, even though the scars of excessive demolition of the 1950s and ’60s remain. Armory Square, a six-block area of railroad era warehouses and small hotels that have been gradually renovated since the 1980s,
is overflowing with restaurants, cafes, local stores, offices and assorted businesses. [See photo, right.] More recently the spectacular Thomas Lamb 1920s Landmark Theater was restored. A former Day Brothers Department store has been converted to apartments, adding to the growing downtown population. And the redevelopment of the Pike Block, a multi-building mix of housing and retail, creates a link to Armory Square and expands the revived downtown district. A new seven-story infill building is rising on a former surface parking lot to which a suburban engineering firm is relocating.
“Most recently, County Executive Mahoney announced her support for the restoration of the historic 1924 Hotel Syracuse, conveniently close to the convention center. The three-tower brick and sandstone landmark [see photos below] has been bankrupt and shuttered since the 1990s. Mahoney chose to support this investment of county, state and city funding over a proposed new Westin Hotel. The combination of grants and low cost financing is partially subsidized with federal Recovery Zone Bonds.”
Brandes Gratz’s encouraging story also cites some terrific work by Syracuse University administrators, students, and faculty to collaborate with residents of disinvested neighborhoods to reclaim vacant buildings and lots for restoration and development of homes and commercial properties. Beyond the university efforts, community residents in other parts of the city are successfully opposing demolitions, getting the attention of absentee landlords, and earning planning victories for walkable street design rather than suburban-style parking lots for retail.
Syracuse has assets to rebuild upon, including of course the University, along with several large medical facilities and excellent cultural and performing arts institutions. Wikipedia reports that the area “has few extremely large employers, but rather many smaller ones, which provides for a certain amount of stability. Additionally, eight of the area's top eleven employers are in education or the service industry, which tend to be much more stable than the manufacturing industry” that dominated the region’s past. Its unemployment rate in the last decade was roughly equivalent to that for the nation as a whole. Earlier this year, Forbes magazine cited Syracuse as “one of America’s best places to raise a family,” specifically ranking it fourth among the ten best.
Brandes Gratz’s entire article is well worth the read, and I couldn’t agree more with its conclusion that this sort of activity is a far preferable alternative to demolition of once-historic city neighborhoods (not to mention initiatives in some cases to convert them to semi-rural fields). Yes, regeneration is hard work, requiring difficult capital assembly, regulatory maneuvering, and a ridiculous amount of patience. But this will be an urban century, and the places that position themselves to welcome more urbanism, not less, will be the beneficiaries.
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Kaid Benfield writes (almost) daily about community, development, and the environment. For more posts, see his blog's home page.
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Comments
Jessica Millman — Jul 30 2010 09:52 AM
Excellent post. I agree with your hypothesis but the situation in Syracuse is not quite as rosey as stated. Armory Square is a small pocket of life disconnected from the rest of the city. The closest residential neighborhood, the Near Westside (a LEED ND pilot), is separated from Armory Square by a multi-lane arterial and because of this substantial barrier, hasn't benefitted from its proximity. In addition, Armory Square is adjacent to a downtown struggling to rediscover its identity. There isn't enough critical mass in Armory Square to drive revitalization elsewhere in the city.
Syracuse needs more jobs (and more firms like O'Brien & Gere leaving the burbs for a downtown location) and improved urban green spaces to convert SU students into long-term, permanent Syracuse residents. With an economic surge, the historic and beautiful downtown may find a second life.
Nate — Jul 30 2010 01:31 PM
Great post. There are countless similarities to between Syracuse and its Upstate neighbor, Buffalo. Both cities are poised for a 21st century resurgence with increasingly urban-centric redevelopment strategies.
Jim Noonan — Aug 1 2010 09:55 PM
This is an interesting viewpoint on our urban future. I tend to believe that you are correct and that our older communities have much more staying power than newer edge cities or 20th century suburban development. As for sprawl, that is a concept that has few years remaining. It remains to be seen whether the end of the recent housing boom was the first indicator of the end of suburbia, or whether the end of suburbia as a viable lifestyle has already occurred. Our role in the next few decades will not be to struggle against a lifestyle that has ended or soon will end, but to make our existing communities more livable.
My only quibble with your article relates to the “Wikipedia Report” statement that Syracuse has “few extremely large employers” and that “eight of the area’s top eleven employers are in education or the service industry, which tend to be much more stable than the manufacturing industry.” Unfortunately, like sprawl, the dependence on a service based economy is also soon to be a relic of the past. One must start asking what we are educating people to DO? Who are the service industries to serve? The days of outsourcing manufacturing or any economic function that actually PRODUCES something is also a thing of the past. Cities like Syracuse are where they are because they have a history of producing or transporting something. In addition to the very important work that urbanists are doing to make cities livable again, we must also find a way to place them back in the center of real economic activity.
Good luck with that….
Kaid @ NRDC — Aug 2 2010 08:53 AM
That's an intriguing perspective, Jim. I suppose the question is whether cities, once established for an original purpose, have an intrinsic value that can transcend that purpose. Charlotte certainly was never a banking center until late in the 20th century; Austin had nothing to do with high-tech industry until late in the 20th century. Will medicine and education be the sustaining forces of 21st-century Syracuse? I suppose we will find out.
Dave Reid — Aug 2 2010 10:09 AM
Your description of what is going on in Syracuse sounds very much like what is going on in Milwaukee. It won't be quick but our city centers are slowly coming back.
Lee Epstein — Aug 2 2010 04:23 PM
One more reason why some cities in the northeast or upper midwest may become part of a new wave of redevelopment is the reality of global climate change. Over the next 30-50 years, those frigid northern cities with their feet of snow may acquire the temperate climate of Richmond, Virginia or St. Louis, Missouri, while southern cities become less and less livable. With their existing "bones," some cities like Syracuse may benefit from this change that has so many otherwise negative attributes.
Jim Noonan — Aug 2 2010 10:23 PM
Kaid, but that is my point. Much of what is thought of as 20th Century economic activity is unsustainable. Cities, on the other hand DO have an intrinsic value. But that value depends upon the existence of viable economic activity. Cities don't really exist for long as oversized museums.
If I were a betting man, I would guess that our future education system will more likely be focused on training railroad engineers (probably burning coal) than managers for international banking.