Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry.
Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, one of the world's leading steel manufacturers for most of the 20th century, discontinued most of its operations in 1982, declared bankruptcy in 2001, and was dissolved in 2003.
The former Packard Automotive Plant in Detroit, a recognizable symbol of the decline of the city's once vibrant automotive industry
The Rust Belt, formerly the Steel Belt, is a region of the Northeastern, Midwestern United States, and the very northern parts of the Southern United States. It includes Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, southeastern Wisconsin, and small parts of Kentucky, New Jersey, and the St. Louis metropolitan area in Missouri. Cities in the Rust Belt include Allentown, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Gary, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Toledo, Trenton, and Youngstown.
The rusting steel stacks of Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, one of the world's largest manufacturers of steel for most of the 20th century. In 1982, however, Bethlehem Steel suspended most of its manufacturing. The company filed bankruptcy in 2001 and was dissolved in 2003.
Allentown, Pennsylvania in the U.S. Rust Belt, May 2010
A disused grain elevator in Buffalo, New York
An abandoned Fisher auto body plant in Detroit
