Plan Philly's Andrew Goodman sends along a "Postcard from Pittsburgh" and finds the Steel City to be way ahead of the City of Brotherly Love in at least a few respects.
While one of those is percentage of population lost, Pittsburgh has a several good things going on:
Pittsburgh is a smaller version of the best sections of Philadelphia, marked by walkable neighborhoods connected by commercial corridors on the same scale as Baltimore Avenue or Frankford Avenue. And despite falling on hard times, Pittsburgh has learned how to maximize the vacant land left by dirty industry quicker and better than Philadelphia. At the convergence of three rivers -- the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela -- Pittsburgh has 36 miles of shoreline and is quickly creating models for riverfront development that surpass anything going on in Philly. So to all the yet-to-be-named members of the new Delaware Waterfront Corporation, take note: we could learn a few things from Pittsburgh.