The Reconstruction of a Postindustrial City

Abstract

There is increasing competition between cities to attract investment. Older industrial cities have a particularly difficult time. It is in this context that there is an attempt to rewrite the meaning of the industrial city. Constructing a new, more positive picture involves marketing a new image, constructing a new environment, and reorienting a city's relationship with its physical environment. The process involves many actors, from business leaders eager to stimulate investment to local citizens' groups seeking to reclaim community space. This article examines these issues in the city of Syracuse, New York, and, in particular, documents the important changes in civic boosterism, the construction of a new iconography of the downtown, and the evolving discourse on environmental pollution.