Nice Place to Visit
Subtitle: Tourism and Urban Revitalization in the Postwar Rustbelt
Publisher: Temple University Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 234
ISBN-13: 9781439913468
Subjects: Cities and towns, united states; Tourism; Urban renewal; Social change; United states, social conditions
Description: How did tourism gain a central role in the postwar American Rustbelt city? And how did tourism development reshape the meaning and function of these cities? These are the questions at the heart of Aaron Cowan's groundbreaking book, A Nice Place to Visit. Cowan provides an insightful, comparative look at the historical development of Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore in the post-World War II period to show how urban tourism provided a potential solution to the economic woes of deindustrialization. A Nice Place to Visit chronicles the visions of urban leaders who planned hotels, convention centers, stadiums, and festival marketplaces to remake these cities as tourist destinations. Cowan also addresses the ever-present tensions between tourist development and the needs and demands of residents in urban communities. A Nice Place to Visit charts how these Rustbelt cities adapted to urban decline and struggled to meet the challenge of becoming an appealing place to visit, as well as good and just communities in which to live.