I can't speak to the northeast, but I can speak to the midwest. I grew up in a large midwestern city. All my life, I was used to seeing strip malls will half the storefronts vacant. The mall I used to work in got demolished but not really replaced by anything. Lots of stories of people moving away. Just this overall feeling of decline that seems to get exacerbated in the winter when things that are run-down look even worse. I remember driving around in the winter and just feeling bummed out by it all. I think the midwest and northeast are similar in this regard.
It blows my mind that the area stretching from Pennsylvania to Illinois used to be the manufacturing heart of the world economy not four decades ago. We have seen in less than half of a human lifetime a whole way of life and social ecosystem be violently uprooted and dislocated.
I can't speak to the northeast, but I can speak to the midwest. I grew up in a large midwestern city. All my life, I was used to seeing strip malls will half the storefronts vacant. The mall I used to work in got demolished but not really replaced by anything. Lots of stories of people moving away. Just this overall feeling of decline that seems to get exacerbated in the winter when things that are run-down look even worse. I remember driving around in the winter and just feeling bummed out by it all. I think the midwest and northeast are similar in this regard.
It blows my mind that the area stretching from Pennsylvania to Illinois used to be the manufacturing heart of the world economy not four decades ago. We have seen in less than half of a human lifetime a whole way of life and social ecosystem be violently uprooted and dislocated.
Reminds me of the story about the Century III Mall that's abandoned in Pittsburgh (also my local malls).