Detroit Turns to Pittsburgh

Two of Pittsburgh's blogosphere luminaries, Chris Briem and Mike Madison, make the pages of the Detroit Free Press in a story about what Detroit can learn from Pittsburgh. While not quite as glowing as the David Ignatius account of "Roboburgh," the region looks to be in good economic health, at least when compared to Detroit. The spillovers of Pittsburgh pride are cited as one of the renaissance lessons:

More than anything else, Pittsburghers' devotion to their city seems to have kept it from becoming a wasteland. Those who didn't leave town when the mills closed have formed an emotional attachment to the area on par with the fierce loyalty exhibited by Pittsburgh Steelers fans across the nation.

"People love this city like no other city in the world," said Michael Madison, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who writes Pittsblog, a blog about the area.

If I still have some of the attention of the Shrinking Cities Diaspora, what do you think about the above claim? I've been mulling over a larger diaspora project covering the entire Postindustrial Heartland. You can always find a few people passionate about any city. However, I don't know if there exists a critical mass. I suppose that's a subject GLUE is exploring.