Lowell, Massachusetts, was once heralded as the model for urban renaissance of old industrial cities. But today's Boston Globe asks if the Renaissance was real.

"In its heyday, politicians and national publications hailed the resurrection of Lowell as the definitive model for troubled cities ruined by the collapse of the textile industry. The city's revival project, which began in the 1970s and became nationally influential in the 1980s and 1990s, created artsy downtown hangouts like Brew'd Awakening and transformed the crumbling Massachusetts Mills complex and other abandoned brick factory buildings into hundreds of new condos and apartments. The city has long been considered one of the nation's great success stories, and its turnaround strategies have been copied by other distressed areas."

But now the Lowell miracle is being questioned. "On key economic indicators like income growth and job creation, the city differs little from other ex-industrial cities in Massachusetts, according to a series of recent studies. Poverty in Lowell has gone up substantially since 1980.

"The reassessment of Lowell comes at a time when increasing numbers of American cities are grappling with the same challenges many New England cities first encountered decades ago. Once-thriving industrial cities from Louisville, Ky., to Dubuque, Iowa, are rushing to adopt plans to shore up their economies as a broad variety of manufacturers move production overseas. But, officials involved with developing revitalization strategies say, the emphasis on large construction projects that characterized the Lowell revival - big-ticket items such as the National Historical Park, minor league baseball stadium, and hockey arena - have fallen out of favor, replaced by a growing emphasis on more prosaic goals like retraining workers and streamlining city governments.

"Lowell's success at transforming its cityscape - dubbed "Mills to Martinis" in one marketing campaign for downtown condos - has undoubtedly helped the city, attracting middle-class commuters drawn to relatively cheap housing near the MBTA commuter rail station. And Lowell has fared better in many respects than cities such as Springfield or Lawrence..."

"But Lowell's gains have also been exaggerated by three decades of city officials eager to tell an upbeat story. And as time passes, some of the shortcomings of Lowell's redevelopment model are beginning to show." Officials particularly worry about the lack of progress by blue collar workers and immigrant communities.

Sadly, solving those problems requires more than a physical transformation and upscale housing. But strategies for upgrading workers' skills and conversion of factories to housing and commercial development are not mutually exclusive. It's not as if preserving the factories would make the manufacturing jobs return. Urban leaders have to learn how to tackle both strategies at once and take them both seriously.

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