American Cities in Post-Industrial Reality: Detroit and Pittsburgh

The thesis studies possibilities of restructuring of post-industrial cities by closely following and comparing the restructuring efforts of two cities located in the U.S. Midwest, Detroit and Pittsburgh. It studies the consequences of globalizing economy on the area of so- called Rust-Belt, as well as the impacts of the federal urban policies on the older industrial cities located in this area. Through deindustrialization of their economies, both Detroit and Pittsburgh suffered from similar problems, such as depopulation, unemployment, factory closure, and urban decline. Therefore to evaluate the level of success of the cities' transformation, the thesis compares their demographic and economic development. The last two chapter of the thesis provide assessment of Detroit's and Pittsburgh's transformation efforts by focusing on the urban planning and economic restructuralization strategies