What say you, Detroit?

Last week I had a couple days in the can and I decided to take off for the tropical climes of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ok, sure, it is not tropical but it has a climate just like everywhere else.

So, I know what you are thinking. Why Pittsburgh?

There are a few reasons:

1.) I've never been there.

2.) There was an article in the New Yorker back in the early 1990s that called Paris, St. Petersburg and Pittsburgh the most beautiful cities in the world.

3.) I wanted to brush up on the local dialect--Pittsburghese. (Hoagies, "Red-up", "Yinz", you get the idea.)

In any event, it was something to do. I have a car that gets 40 miles to the gallon on the expressway, a digital slr, and a knack for getting good hotel prices online. Why wouldn't I go to the 'Burgh?

Pittsburgh is a success story like no other American city.

This steel city, built down in the valley and rising above the congress of the three rivers, used to be the poster boy for the American rust belt. Today, however, it is a shining city--a civil engineer's paradise with more than twelve bridges, two inclines, trolleys and a downtown subway.

The city planners of Pittsburgh redeveloped its waterfront to rescue it from the clutches of urban blight that so many American cities have succumbed to. Cities like Detroit and Philadelphia, since losing much of their industrial bases, have regressed into depressing shells of their former selves--with brownfields as far as the eyes can see.

Pittsburgh is different.

The Skyline of Carnegie's city is dotted with all the affectations of diverse urban development. This city is no longer slave to the boom and bust of a single commodity monoculture like Detroit and, my city, Flint. Pittsburgh is now known as a center for finance and medical services to go along with its heavier industries. (And a tremendous university...PITT.)

Pittsburgh is not without its problems, but it should give other rust belt cities like Detroit hope for the future. It has recently been voted the most livable city in America due to its low cost of living as compared to the larger cities of the eastern United States.

I only wish other cities that have been similarly affected by the rise of global economy could pick themselves off the mat like Pittsburgh has. (For another example of urban renewal at the city center, check out Cleveland.)

What say you, Detroit?