The post industrial revitalization of Pittsburgh: myths and evidence

Industrial regions have faced many challenges in restructuring their economies in the 1990s. In this article, I analyze the turns taken in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, region. The area forged a collaborative model of redevelopment through public-private partnerships over the post World War II era. As the region lost its economic base in steel in the 1980s, partnership in Pittsburgh evolved along consensual lines to incorporate new nonprofit and community-based organizations into its planning and revitalization efforts. Its success in revitalizing the region became a model for other regions in transition. In the 1990s, however, the strength of the region's economy and the partnership model has weakened. The article highlights the limits of consensual partnerships when economic regeneration slows.