Small, Gritty, and Green

America's once-vibrant small-to-midsize cities -- Syracuse, Worcester, Akron, Flint,
Rockford, and others -- increasingly resemble urban wastelands. Gutted by deindustrialization,
outsourcing, and middle-class flight, disproportionately devastated by metro freeway systems that
laid waste to the urban fabric and displaced the working poor, small industrial cities seem to be
part of America's past, not its future. And yet, Catherine Tumber argues in this provocative book,
America's gritty Rust Belt cities could play a central role in a greener, low-carbon, relocalized
future.As we wean ourselves from fossil fuels and realize the environmental costs
of suburban sprawl, we will see that small cities offer many assets for sustainable living not
shared by their big city or small town counterparts, including population density and nearby,
fertile farmland available for new environmentally friendly uses.Tumber traveled
to twenty-five cities in the Northeast and Midwest -- from Buffalo to Peoria to Detroit to Rochester
-- interviewing planners, city officials, and activists, and weaving their stories into this
exploration of small-scale urbanism. Smaller cities can be a critical part of a sustainable future
and a productive green economy. Small, Gritty, and Green will help us develop the
moral and political imagination we need to realize this.