Combating Decline: Preservation and Community Development in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati

Over the course of the twentieth century, historic preservation hasevolved as one strategy for improving declining and disinvestedneighborhoods, with mixed intentions and results. Today, historicpreservation is a common revitalization strategy, although tensionsremain about benets and drawbacks for low-income communities.?Furthermore,little is known about the history of preservation withinthecontext of declining cities, particularly on the part of grassroots,community development corporations (CDCS) using preservationor equitable neighborhood improvement. Across the United States,CDCS emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, working to shape thefuture of low-income areas and reecting a push for local controloverurban development decision-making in the aftermath of heavyhanded urban renewal. In declining cities such as Cleveland, Buffalo,or Detroit, nonprot CDCS were especially important as shrinkingmunicipal coffers hindered revitalization. Within this frameworkof urban decline and the rise of the CDC movement, this chapterexploreshow preservation intersected with community developmentin the 1970s. The findings advance a more robust history of historicpreservationand community revitalization while offering guidancetor contemporary initiatives.