A Nice Place to Visit: Tourism and Urban Revitalization in the Postwar Rustbelt

Abstract

Today, tourism is a key component of every city's strategic plan, polished and perfected through a combination of sophisticated messaging and an array of curated attractions. In A Nice Place to Visit Aaron Cowan expertly probes the postwar roots of this trend by analyzing early efforts in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis to deploy tourist-oriented development as a tool for reversing long-standing patterns of aesthetic and economic decline. In all four rust belt cities—none previously recognized for their inherent tourist appeal—savvy civic leaders recognized the immense potential that lay in reshaping key portions of their troubled city centers to attract outsiders and their money. In the process, they hoped, each city might rebuild not only its physical landscape but also its image in the eyes of the traveling public as well as among area residents clinging to the urban fringe. Far from a simple narrative of rebranding and redevelopment, Cowan's analysis delves deeply into the specific geographical, economic, and political circumstances behind each city's chosen course of action. Each case study also successfully illuminates broader cultural developments affecting communities nationwide. A description of Cincinnati's incipient courting of conventioneers includes a cogent explanation of how the rise of the professional convention industry and changing consumer preferences led to widespread abandonment of established hotels in the postwar era despite their long-standing roles as social centers for generations of local residents.