After the Factory expores the challenges and opportunities facing the smaller industrial cities of America's heartland as they seek to reinvent themselves. It offers a unique, multidisciplinary look at communities often ignored by conventional urban studies and urban history scholarship.

Joseph A. Rodriguez critically examines the urban design and revitalization initiatives undertaken by both the government and the people of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the 1990s, New Urbanists followed a city tradition of using urban design to solve problems while seeking to elevate the city's national reputation and status. While New Urbanism was not the only design element undertaken to further Milwaukee's redevelopment, the elite focus on New Urbanism reflected an attempt to fashion a self-help narrative for the revitalization of the city. This approach linked New Urbanist design to the...