David Rusk groups Detroit and Cleveland together as cities that are unable to annex surrounding communities, and are therefore doomed to what he calls "inelasticity."
http://www.sprawlwatch.org/regionalannex.html
The following material is excerpted with written permission from How Smart Growth Can Stop Sprawl, a briefing guide for funders by David Bollier. [[Washington, D.C.: Essential Books), 1998.
David Rusk convincingly argues that the "real city" necessarily includes both the central city and suburbs. Unless political jurisdictions reflect this fact, the population and economic growth of most cities will suffer.
Through detailed historical statistics, Rusk shows in Cities Without Suburbs that the most economically robust cities have been "elastic cities" -- that is, they have been able to expand their borders through consolidation or annexation of suburbs and thus "capture" new growth in the metro area.
Cities that are "inelastic" tend to be older, more complacent and more racially segregated, as well as more impoverished. Examples include Detroit, Cleveland, Louisville and Milwaukee. Cities that are elastic tend to be newer and more ambitious, less segregated and more economically robust. Examples include Houston, Indianapolis, Albuquerque, Seattle and Austin. Rusk argues that elastic cities are more successful because they practice some form of regionalism.
Emphasis added ...
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