Renewal, Regression, and Revival : Currents of Change in the Pittsburgh Environment (History of the Urban Environment)

Sitting at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers where they join to flow into the Ohio, the city of Pittsburgh has been shaped by its material environment—the rocky, grimy, watery base on which it stands. It has also been shaped by industrial activity, as the city has cycled through growth and expansion, deindustrialization, and renewal. Today, many former industrial sites have been replaced by research, shopping, and recreation—but change is not always consistent, and whether Pittsburgh has entirely moved to a sustainable future remains to be seen. Renewal, Regression, and Revival is an environmental history of this iconic American city by one of the foremost scholars in the field, Joel A. Tarr. Chapters in this volume not only expand on themes first addressed in Tarr’s landmark Devastation and Renewal but venture into new and vital topics for understanding the role of the environment in urban development. Over seven deftly argued essays, Tarr and other expert contributors reflect on environmental hazards such as landslides, air pollution, and gas extraction, and explore the growth of a political culture that helped turn a declining Rust Belt city into a burgeoning green metropolis.