by 
There’s
a
question
I
get
every
so
often
in
social
media
–
“why
do
you
use
the
term
“Rust
Belt”?“
Usually
it
comes
from
people
who
live
in
the
region,
who
dislike
the
term
and
wish
for
some
kind
of
rebranding.
I
agree.
But
what’s
better?
Before
I
discuss
options,
let’s
talk
about
the
term
“Rust
Belt”
itself.
There
are
many
thoughts
on
the
origin
of
the
term.
Many
people
cite
the
term
gaining
popularity
in
the
1970’s
and
1980’s
as
manufacturing
plants
closed
in
the
Northeastern
and
Midwestern
cities.
It
was
at
that
time
when
factories
began
their
relocation
to
the
South
or
Southwest
(which
would
later
earn
the
term
“Sun
Belt”)
in
search
of
lower
labor
costs
and
lower
taxes.
Anne
Trubek,
the
founder
of
Belt
Magazine
in
2013
and
an
avid
user
of
the
term,
says
the
term
really
became
popular
during
the
1984
presidential
election:
“It
was
largely
created
in
1984
by,
of
all
people,
Walter
Mondale.
At
a
campaign
stop
during
the
presidential
election,
Mondale
made
a
speech
to
steelworkers
at
the
LTV
plant
Cleveland
in
which
he
decried
Reagan’s
position
on
trade,
particularly
the
lifting
of
quotas
on
steel
imports,
which
had
sent
the
industry
into
crisis.
As
he
put
it:
“Reagan’s
policies
are
turning
our
industrial
Midwest
into
a
rust
bowl.”
The
press
tweaked
Mondale’s
dust
bowl
reference
into
“Rust
Belt,”
to
make
it
play
off
the
“Sun
Belt,”
another
new
term
for
an
American
region,
this
one
coined
in
1969
by
Kevin
Phillips
in
his
book
The
New
Republican
Majority,
to
describe
a
happier
set
of
shifting
demographics
and
economic
policies.
There
is
a
sizable
contingent
—
mainly
baby
boomers
who
remember
the
moment
the
term
was
coined
—
who
consider
it
derogatory
and
strive
to
have
it
replaced
(recent
attempts
to
rebrand
the
region
include
the
“Trust
Belt”
and
the
“Freshwater
Region”).
But
the
term
sticks,
resoundly
trumping
“America’s
Heartland,”
with
its
whiffs
of
nostalgia
and
rural
idyll.”
This
makes
a
lot
of
sense.
If
you
talk
to
Boomer-aged
people
from
the
region,
especially
those
employed
in
the
manufacturing
sector,
the
period
from
about
1968-1984
was
the
period
when
things
changed
dramatically
for
the
industrial
Midwest.
Racial
unrest
in
major
cities,
rapid
growth
in
suburbia
coupled
with
extensive
decline
in
inner
city
neighborhoods,
the
loss
of
automotive
and
steel
manufacturing
jobs
in
cities
like
Pittsburgh,
Cleveland,
Detroit,
Chicago
and
St.
Louis,
and
inflationary
and
recessionary
cycles,
culminating
with
the
1981-82
Recession,
hit
this
region,
however
defined,
particularly
hard.
How
hard?
There
are
Boomers
who
maintain
that
the
80’s
recession
was
far
worse
on
the
Midwest
than
the
Great
Recession
of
2007-09.
And
I
believe
them.
It
was
also
around
this
time
that
general
perceptions
about
the
makeup
of
American
geography
and
demographics
was
changing.
I’d
argue
that
prior
to
the
Civil
Rights
Movement,
the
nation
was
still
defined
by
a
North/South
split,
with
states
as
diverse
as
California
and
New
York
included
with
Midwestern
states
in
the
North.
Southern
states
included
the
old
Confederacy,
with
the
most
rural
areas
being
referred
to
as
the
Deep
South.
Read
the
rest
of
this
piece
at
The
Corner
Side
Yard.
Pete
Saunders
is
a
writer
and
researcher
whose
work
focuses
on
urbanism
and
public
policy.
Pete
has
been
the
editor/publisher
of
the
Corner
Side
Yard,
an
urbanist
blog,
since
2012.
Pete
is
also
an
urban
affairs
contributor
to
Forbes
Magazine’s
online
platform.
Pete’s
writings
have
been
published
widely
in
traditional
and
internet
media
outlets,
including
the
feature
article
in
the
December
2018
issue
of
Planning
Magazine.
Pete
has
more
than
twenty
years’
experience
in
planning,
economic
development,
and
community
development,
with
stops
in
the
public,
private
and
non-profit
sectors.
He
lives
in
Chicago.
Photo:
courtesy
The
Corner
Side
Yard
Go to Source
Author: Pete Saunders
