ABSTRACT
For over five decades, images of urban decline have flamed across the covers of national magazines, illustrated numerous frontpage stories by major newspapers, and become a staple in the speeches of city officials. The discovery of one or another loss—of jobs, tax revenues, white households, a professional sports team—generated a multitude of academic studies and spawned a small industry of consultant reports. Analysts endeavored to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of cities in decline, the reasons for population loss and business flight, and the actions that governments might take to entice growth back to their jurisdictions. Pictures of abandoned houses, children playing in glass-strewn lots, traffic-clogged streets, boarded-up storefronts, and large-scale demolitions have made for striking visuals to focus the wandering mind of the television viewer.
