Reconstructing the Image of an Industrial 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 includes the marketing of a new image, constructing a new environment, and reorienting a city's relatinship 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 paper examines these issues in Syracuse, New York, and documents the important changes in civic boosterism, the construction of a new inconography of the downtown, and the evolving discourse on environmental pollution.