How G-20 Pittsburgh Plays In Providence

The Wall Street Journal moves in on the Forbes gig and lists the top-10 "Next Youth-Magnet Cities". Don't go there and expect to find Pittsburgh in this group. The Pittsburgh Summit did a world of good for the city's image, but don't expect college graduates to flock there quite yet. However, I see some indication that such a migration is in the works:

It is clear that, like it or not, our economy is necessarily moving in new directions. This week’s G-20 summit is being held in Pittsburgh, in part to highlight the city’s attempt at reinventing itself. Pittsburgh is developing many new “green” initiatives as part of a broader effort to move beyond its outdated, Rust Belt economy. Their unemployment rate is below both the state and national averages.

Our country needs the human capital that college education creates to revitalize the economy through innovations like those on display in Pittsburgh.

Hook, line and sinker.

That passage is from an article in The Brown Daily Herald. The author is a student at the university and is listed as hailing from Atlanta, GA (just in case you suspected the Yinzerati). Pittsburgh couldn't ask for better resonance of its rebranding effort.

The first step to any substantial in-migration is to get on the mental maps of the most geographically fickle. Mission accomplished. As for the WSJ list, it doesn't read like a projection: More like yesterday's news recycled for today's publication.