Shrinking cities syndrome: Detroit’s not alone

We won’t deny that a rivalry exists between the D and Chicago. Maybe it’s the legacy of competition for bragging rights as the Rust Belt capital. While it’s Detroit’s problems that usually capture the national media’s imagination, Chicago isn’t safe from the population exodus documented in the 2010 Census.

It’s considered a global trend that people are pouring into cities. But, with the exception of Indianapolis and Columbus, every city in the Midwest lost population in the last ten years. Even Chicago. That fact, says Richard C. Longsworth, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, should give Detroiters pause.

Excerpt:

The fact is that Chicago, for all its glamor and all its success,
supports 25 percent fewer people and has 25 percent fewer jobs than it
had at the height of its industrial power. Yes, it’s more beautiful, and
cleaner, more connected to the world than before. But all this glitz
and all this new economy doesn’t add up to a city as rich and vibrant as
the old City of the Big Shoulders.

This tells us something about this new global economy and its ability
to support the people who live within it. If even a place like Chicago
is a “shrinking city,” what does this mean for Cleveland, St. Louis,
Detroit and other less favored places?

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