Revitalization Should Not Overshadow the Continued Decline in Cities

When gentrification takes center stage, neglected places facing poverty, segregation, and disinvestment are overlooked.

2 minute read

February 28, 2019, 12:00 PM PST

By Camille Fink


Abandoned Buildings

Flickr user basykes / Wikimedia Commons

Jason Segedy, planning director of Akron, Ohio, considers the decline of American cities by reflecting on Alan Mallach's book The Divided City. Segedy says that much of the focus is on revitalization when it should be on “displacement by decline.”

Activists and academics often point to the impacts of gentrification, even when its meaning is not entirely clear any longer, says Segedy. "We hear far less about the primarily black middle class residents fleeing previously stable urban neighborhoods for the suburbs each year (displacement by decline), while the poor are left behind in crumbling communities, trapped in concentrated generational poverty."

In thinking about how to move forward, Segedy again draws from Mallach. "In order to become effective change agents, Mallach argues that city leaders must step back from daily crises, difficult as that sometimes is, and think about systemic issues and power structures in their communities." Segedy adds that change needs to happen at the local level, without expectations that the federal government will provide the solutions.

He also is critical of responses across the political spectrum, nothing that the right has demonstrated little interest in the future of cities. "The political left, meanwhile, spellbound by the Dada performance art that bills itself as 'The Resistance' in this absurd age of Trump, staggers drunkenly between a wonky and bloodless urbanism, and an increasingly strident and unhinged leftism."

See also: Segedy's review of The Divided City from July 2018.

Friday, February 1, 2019 in City Observatory

Young Professional

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

Get top-rated, practical training for planners

"Planetizen federal action tracker" logo superimposed over black and white image of US Capitol dome.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

4 hours ago - Zachary Whalen

Overlapping highways

The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin

People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.

September 8, 2026 - Benjamin Schneider

The Hoover Dam blocking the Colorado River. The river's water level is noticeably low. The cliffs surrounding the blue water are brown and jagged.

US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico

A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.

September 11, 2026 - The Arizona Republic

People boarding a bus on Maryland's Orange Route.

Baltimore to break ground on $50 million Transit Priority Project

The project will bring faster bus trips, safer streets and better bike connections to Baltimore.

45 minutes ago - Mass Transit

A brick building with a circular sign with the Airbnb logo hanging off of it.

Airbnb launches $250 million 'last-dollar financing' housing accelerator, makes first investment in Austin

The company will put $6.4 million towards affordable housing development in Texas’ capital.

1 hour ago - Smart Cities Dive

One side of the image shows a Chicago bus stop without a bench, the second image shows the bus stop with a yellow and blue bench.

Guerilla urbanists are building DIY bus stop benches in Chicago

A before-and-after of one of the bus stops with a new bench. The new benches are not officially sanctioned or permitted, but the residents who placed them hope they will be the start of a network of DIY benches across the city.

2 hours ago - Block Club Chicago

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.