[continued from previous message]   
      
   > banks, which take ownership of derelict private properties.   
   >   
   > "There's an abandoned house on a street," he explains. "We get   
   > that property through tax foreclosure, when the owner stops   
   > paying taxes. Instead of auctioning it off to somebody on the   
   > internet, we put it in the land bank.   
   >   
   > "And because we have too many houses in a city that's lost lots   
   > of population, we bite the bullet and demolish this abandoned   
   > structure that's obsolete. We knock on the door of the next door   
   > neighbour, who's been paying a heavy price of living next door   
   > to this abandoned house. And for just $25, we sell that next   
   > door lot after it's been cleaned."   
   >   
   > So instead of having a family home next to a big, empty reminder   
   > of what was once there, he says, there is a house with 80-foot   
   > (24-metre) grounds, upon which the family may build a garage, a   
   > playground or a driveway. "It's a productive part of the   
   > landscape."   
   >   
   > 3. Accept that smaller can be better   
   >   
   > "That's a very tough thing for Americans to get their head   
   > around," says Kildee, who in 2010 co-founded the Center for   
   > Community Progress, which helps rebuild urban neighbourhoods.   
   >   
   > "The very psyche for the American people was based on westward   
   > expansion, our manifest destiny. Growth and prosperity were the   
   > same thing.   
   >   
   > "But that means very little to a person living in a city that   
   > has lost population and is not likely to regain it. We need to   
   > rethink how we define prosperity."   
   >   
   > 4. Build institutions   
   >   
   > Pittsburgh is widely held up as a success story in reinvention,   
   > hosting the G20 summit in 2009, but it's cashing cheques that   
   > were written 50 years ago, says Professor Michael Madison from   
   > the University of Pittsburgh.   
   >   
   > The Allegheny Conference on Community Development (the ACCD) was   
   > formed in the 1940s, when some leading steel industry players   
   > joined with the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County to   
   > address some of the city's most pressing environmental and   
   > infrastructure issues.   
   >   
   > For instance, they banned coal-burning furnaces in homes, to   
   > clear the air of smoke, and they created the Port Authority.   
   >   
   > "There was a collaborative spirit back in the 50s and they knew   
   > that Pittsburgh would have to reinvent itself. They didn't know   
   > how but put in motion something that we are still benefiting   
   > from today," says Madison.   
   >   
   > The city's two world-renowned universities, and its $10bn   
   > medical centre, also received significant sums of money in the   
   > 1950s and 60s.   
   >   
   > Other cities should identify legacy institutions from the   
   > industrial era that could provide some skeletal backbone to   
   > future prosperity, he adds.   
   >   
   > 5. Don't be trapped by history   
   >   
   > Pittsburgh was known as the Steel City so the steep decline of   
   > its steel industry was a huge blow to its identity.   
   >   
   > A community needs a dynamic relationship with its history and to   
   > take advantage of the strengths of its history without being   
   > captive to it, says Madison.   
   >   
   > "Pittsburgh needed to put a healthy and respectful distance   
   > between its modern self and its 20th Century steel self.   
   > Everyone loves the steel history but accepts it's not going to   
   > come back."   
   >   
   > 6. Entice the right jobs   
   >   
   > When the steel industry collapsed, the instinct of economic   
   > leaders in Pittsburgh was to reach out to other industries that   
   > could replace these kinds of jobs on a large scale, says   
   > Madison. The goal was more big factories making televisions or   
   > cars, a magic bullet solution.   
   >   
   > But these are very competitive industries and most of the   
   > investment in these areas has gone to Asia or cheaper parts of   
   > the US, he says.   
   >   
   > "It took Pittsburgh a while to realise that's a high-stakes   
   > strategy and we kept losing," says Madison. Instead it began to   
   > focus on service industries, the universities, the medical   
   > centre and hi-tech business, and growing jobs locally rather   
   > than importing them.   
   >   
   > https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23383361   
   >   
      
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