Cornell University Press has published Vulnerable Communities: Research, Policy, and Practice in Small Cities. The book draws together scholars from a broad range of disciplines to consider the present condition and future prospects of smaller American cities. It argues that struggling smaller cities in the U.S. face a distinctive mix of challenges and opportunities as economic and cultural power has shifted to metropolitan centers. They are dynamic urban settings with varied problems, even as the face a common set of structural challenges.
James J. Connolly, Dagney Faulk, and Emily J. Wornell edited the volume, which assembles revised versions of papers that were first presented at the 2018 Small Cities Conference at Ball State. Two BSU research units organized that event: the Center for Middletown Studies and the Center for Business and Economic Research. For more details on the book, see here.