Pittsburgh: Steel City to Smart City

Once known as the "Steel City" for its dominant metal industry, Pittsburgh is now making waves as a leader in technology and sustainability. According to the Wall Street Journal, Pittsburgh now ranks fifth among large metro areas in the "momentum" category, or growth for technology workers.

Remnants of the city's industrial past remain at sites such as the Duquesne Incline, the oldest running funicular in the United States. Visitors can see the machine room and observe the original hoisting equipment from 1877 that is still in operation today. However, even when the steel industry dominated the city's economy and identity, its preclusion for technological advances shine through; with the build of the first Ferris Wheel in 1893, and the production of the first newspaper west of the Alleghenies as early as 1789.

Although centuries of innovation at one time caused Pittsburgh to be overrun with industrial pollution, the successful urban environmental transformation over the last half-century has become a case study in sustainability. Architectural Digest even recognized Pittsburgh as one of the most climate-resilient cities in the United States in 2023. The city has been able to use its past, good and bad, to transform into the model we see now.

Join us in Pittsburgh, September 21-25, for the 2024 ICMA Annual Conference, and witness this incredible transformation for yourself.

Earn 3.5 AICP Credits at ICMA's Mobile Workshop:

Sustainable Place-Making for Small Town Renewal: From a Former Steel Town to the First American Ecodistrict

September 21, 2024
12:30pm to 4:00pm