Brawn to brain: Rustbelt, southern, and southeastern sunbelt metropolitan cities

Cities in the Northeast of the United States (US) have been in the news lately. Media reports such as the Yahoo! documentary on “Cities rising: rebuilding America” are providing new narratives of urban decline and turnaround in the region. The story of Rustbelt cities in the Northeast is well-known: historically, they were centers of growth and prosperity, heavyweights in the nation’s industrial output, and gravities of innovation and skill. American industrial revolution began here, in cities such as Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh, scattered along prominent waterways and surrounded by rich agricultural hinterlands. Building networks of transportation across the country, cities in the Northeast traded with other regions, revolutionarized steel and automobile technology, and welcomed immigrants from Europe. In the 20 years between 1900 and 1920, urban population in the region exploded and gross domestic product increased from $423 to $688 million (Bowen & Kinahan, 2014).