deindustrialized
Lost its manufacturing
Deindustrialized describes a place that has lost its industrial base—factories closed, manufacturing jobs gone, economic activity shifted elsewhere.
The term often carries connotations of decline and abandonment: deindustrialized cities of the Rust Belt, a deindustrialized economy struggling to reinvent itself.
The process itself is deindustrialization.
Declining industrial region
- manufacturing declineLoss of factory output
- factory closuresManufacturing facilities ending operations
- plant shutdownsPermanent factory operation halts
- hollowed-outEmptied of interior contents
desolation · stagnation · contraction · withering · erosion · atrophy · disinvestment · depopulation
Moving work overseas
- outsourcingThird-party task delegation
- cheap laborUndervalued workforce services
- trade policyRules governing international exchange
- NAFTAContinental free-commerce bloc
free trade · global supply chain · multinational corporations · developing nations · capital flight · trade deficit · tariffs · manufacturing sector
Previously developed, possibly polluted land
- vacant lotsUnoccupied land parcels
- smokestacksTall industrial exhaust pipes
- rail yardsTrain staging areas
- empty storefrontsUnoccupied retail locations
urban blight · ruins · wasteland · eyesore · graffiti · disrepair
Retrofitting buildings for new functions
- redevelopmentRebuilding an existing area
- arts districtArea with concentrated creative venues
- loft conversionRenovating roof space into rooms
- tech hubRegion dense with startups
gentrification · urban renewal · service economy · knowledge economy · entrepreneurship · mixed-use · heritage preservation · reinvention
Those who lost positions
- joblessnessState without paid work
- redundancyNeedless duplication
- blue-collarManual labor workforce
- factory workersEmployees in manufacturing facilities
mass layoffs · unemployment benefits · welfare · poverty · underemployment · job losses · steelworkers · autoworkers
rust belt
Declining industrial region
- manufacturing declineLoss of factory output
- factory closuresManufacturing facilities ending operations
- plant shutdownsPermanent factory operation halts
hollowed-out · desolation · stagnation · contraction · withering · erosion · atrophy · disinvestment · depopulation · blight
offshoring
Moving work overseas
- outsourcingThird-party task delegation
- cheap laborUndervalued workforce services
- trade policyRules governing international exchange
NAFTA · free trade · global supply chain · multinational corporations · developing nations · capital flight · trade deficit · tariffs · manufacturing sector
brownfield
Previously developed, possibly polluted land
- vacant lotsUnoccupied land parcels
- smokestacksTall industrial exhaust pipes
- rail yardsTrain staging areas
empty storefronts · urban blight · ruins · wasteland · eyesore · graffiti · disrepair
adaptive reuse
Retrofitting buildings for new functions
- redevelopmentRebuilding an existing area
- arts districtArea with concentrated creative venues
- loft conversionRenovating roof space into rooms
tech hub · gentrification · urban renewal · service economy · knowledge economy · entrepreneurship · mixed-use · heritage preservation · reinvention · tourism
displaced workers
Those who lost positions
- joblessnessState without paid work
- redundancyNeedless duplication
- blue-collarManual labor workforce
factory workers · mass layoffs · unemployment benefits · welfare · poverty · underemployment · job losses · steelworkers · autoworkers · millworkers
deindustrializedindustrialized
Having established manufacturing economies
reindustrialized · industrializing · industrial · industrial heartland