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I've long been fascinated by what I call "fallen cities" -- cities that have experienced large decreases in population. Even better if that decrease in population is still ongoing. Why do people abandon certain cities, and what happens to these cities as people abandon them? Sometimes cities enter a kind of death spiral, in which the remaining residents can no longer adequately support their local government, which leads to rising crime & poverty and collapsing social services, which drives away more of the remaining residents. What's left -- usually a "Gold Coast" slice of rich people living along a fashionable waterfront, surrounded by decaying and ungovernable ex-neighborhoods with rotting public schools.
Some of the classic fallen cities in the US include: Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis -- all their populations falling by more than half since 1950, all falling from more than half a million residents. Why did so many people leave?
Baltimore's population also peaked in 1950 and has been falling every decade since, down 38% over 70 years. It hasn't fallen quite as hard as Detroit, which is down 65% and lost over a million people (and is still falling!).
In a fallen city you can usually find a nice-looking house for less than half the US median price, so in this age of telework, you'd think more people would be moving into fallen cities. When I see my own income fall as I enter retirement, I'll be tempted to buy a condo in a fallen city, but it won't be a good "investment", but I won't be saving for the future anyway, I'll be living off my savings by then.
Well, I might be focusing more on Baltimore over the next few years, maybe I'll even swap the DC condo for a Baltimore condo in anticipation of retiring in Baltimore. Maybe for my next vacation I'll barely travel at all -- just stay up in Baltimore for a long weekend and get to know it a little better. I've run the Baltimore half marathon and the Baltimore marathon in the past, good ways to see the city. I've spent nights in Baltimore, seen concerts there, gone dancing there, had sex there, but I haven't really gotten to know Baltimore like I should -- it takes about as long to drive to downtown Baltimore as to my office in downtown DC -- but I've spent zillions more nights in DC than in Baltimore.
I've had this fallen city right under my nose for 30 years ...
Some of the classic fallen cities in the US include: Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis -- all their populations falling by more than half since 1950, all falling from more than half a million residents. Why did so many people leave?
Baltimore's population also peaked in 1950 and has been falling every decade since, down 38% over 70 years. It hasn't fallen quite as hard as Detroit, which is down 65% and lost over a million people (and is still falling!).
In a fallen city you can usually find a nice-looking house for less than half the US median price, so in this age of telework, you'd think more people would be moving into fallen cities. When I see my own income fall as I enter retirement, I'll be tempted to buy a condo in a fallen city, but it won't be a good "investment", but I won't be saving for the future anyway, I'll be living off my savings by then.
Well, I might be focusing more on Baltimore over the next few years, maybe I'll even swap the DC condo for a Baltimore condo in anticipation of retiring in Baltimore. Maybe for my next vacation I'll barely travel at all -- just stay up in Baltimore for a long weekend and get to know it a little better. I've run the Baltimore half marathon and the Baltimore marathon in the past, good ways to see the city. I've spent nights in Baltimore, seen concerts there, gone dancing there, had sex there, but I haven't really gotten to know Baltimore like I should -- it takes about as long to drive to downtown Baltimore as to my office in downtown DC -- but I've spent zillions more nights in DC than in Baltimore.
I've had this fallen city right under my nose for 30 years ...
