When thinking of blighted downtowns, cities like San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, may come to mind, but there is a Midwest metropolis dealing with a major problem of its own: St. Louis. One of Missouri’s major cities, a recent report in The Wall Street Journal detailed how downtown St. Louis is dealing with a so-called ‘doom loop,’ when cities become trapped in a cycle of urban decay.
Despite being home to about 300,000 people, St. Louis has seen a decline over the past few years that has caused the city to look for ways to revitalize its shrinking downtown. Much of this has to do with a poor real estate market, as downtown St. Louis has “hit commercial rock bottom,” industry outlet The Real Deal said.
Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What went wrong in downtown St. Louis?
How can the ‘doom loop’ be stopped?
Explore More
To continue reading this article…
Create a free account
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
register for free
Already have an account? Sign in
Subscribe to The Week
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Subscribe & Save
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Unlimited website access is included with Digital and Print + Digital subscriptions.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.