This Ain’t City Chicken: The Geography of Authenticity
A new restaurant in Detroit may be the first example of ruin porn cuisine.
A Sense of What a City Was: A History of Rust Belt Alt-Weeklies
The fast times and hard lives of alt-weekly newspapers in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.
The Detroit Anthology: A City Made of Many Voices
Detroit is a city of stories. But most of the stories written about Detroit today are by outsiders, for outsiders. Even local writers often pen stories meant to explain Detroit to those who live elsewhere. Our Detroit anthology is different.
Greetings from Detroit
Here's one facet of Detroit's story -- a tale more complicated and interesting than simply ruin, poverty, and racial division.
The Great Lakes: Plans For The Next 100 Years
We have perhaps the most valuable resource on the planet -- a self-sustaining region -- and we've mostly ignored it. Local leaders and urbanists weigh in on why we should invest in the Great Lakes over the next century.
A Rust Belt Playlist
The story of the industrial Midwest can be told through the music it inspired. From John Lee Hooker to MC5 to Eminem, here's our playlist of 20 Rust Belt tunes.
The Best Rust Belt Sites
From 'Deadline Detroit' to Nextstl, we present our round-up of must-read pubs from the region, online and beyond.
In Detroit, Working Writers Get a House
The Write A House project attempts to turn empty housing stock into a strength.
The Rust Belt Bookshelf
Reads born of fire, steel, and clock-punching.
Is There a Rust Belt Cuisine?
From Pierogis To Locally Grown Kimchi
Shrink or Die Trying
Rust Belt cities must think bigger, not make themselves smaller.
Fort Gratiot
Detroit’s fortunes turned in the 1960s. So did my father’s.