WHAT HAPPENS TO A CITY WHEN INDUSTRY LEAVES?
The textile city – its past, present and future – is prototypical of cities shaped by departed industries. In America, and worldwide, textiles profoundly altered physical and social landscapes. Entire cities grew around rivers where mills could draw power, and slave populations swelled to cultivate vast territories of cotton. Like many industries that once underpinned the United States’ economy, textiles gradually faded. And yet the cities and people remain, often disenfranchised and struggling.
Urban Fabric brings together independent analysis with lectures by academic, practice and policy experts from across the country. The project presents case studies from around the world that offer successful strategies for elevating textile cities, and other cities that are looking to fill the void left by failing or relocated industries.
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