[andyljones]

There's no shortage of cities where central space has become cheaper after their industry has collapsed, and they do not have a great record of turning vibrant. The rust belt and the north of England are the first areas to mind.

[ImaCake]

I have seen this happen in a medium sized coastal city on Australia's east coast. The major employer shut down in the early 1990's and the once vibrant inner city did indeed become a cesspool for a decade. But begining in the early 2000's it started to come back to life, and the people who moved in were the artsy types and the city became a wonderful and curious place while still having a bit of a air of danger and decay. These days it is somewhat gentrified, but it has become very beautiful and pleasant. In the end my city doesn't really have a central core which is a little problematic for public transit (terrible quality), but the old CBD is a lovely place.

[TheOtherHobbes]

The North of England has some good examples of the opposite. The Leeds/Bradford/Halifax/Huddersfield area is - was - gentrifying rapidly with an obvious shift away from the ruins of heavy industry to art/craft projects and enterprises of all sizes. The Calder Valley is almost notorious for it. There's also Salts Mill near Shipley, which is a carefully authenticised artisanal mall in an old converted mill.

And you'll find plenty of web/creative agencies plying their trade in the area, although that sector isn't quite as distinctive as in - say - Manchester.

It's all part of the standard gentrification cycle: - collapse -> bohemian -> artisanal -> gentrified -> investment grade -> collapse... but hurried along some.

[notJim]

That's true, but if now there is central space freeing up in major cultural hubs like NYC and SF, maybe it could be cool. These places might, although to a lesser extent, have the customer base of affluent people to support new cultural spaces.

[cortesoft]

For the short term, maybe, but will they still have that customer base if those affluent people don't need to stay there for work?

[notJim]

IMO that's a big open question. Anecdotally, I've heard of a lot of people moving away from these cities, but most of them say they intend to move back. Since the appeal of both cities is largely in activities that are unavailable now, this is plausible to me. But it's also plausible people will find they miss the city less than they expected.

[_jal]

There are important differences between cities in regions where an industry collapsed and where competition for down-town office space has collapsed.

One of them lost their economic engine. The other is undergoing a real estate adjustment.