"This portrayal of urban rebirth reveals the ideas, opportunities, people, and projects behind the twenty-five-year Providence renaissance. Laying the historical, economic, and political groundwork, Francis J. Leazes Jr. and Mark T. Motte describe in detail the many disparate events that came together to transform Providence's downtown into one of the nation's most attractive urban environments at a time when other nearby former industrial centers continued to decay despite valiant renewal efforts. Through extensive interviews with elected officials, civil servants, entrepreneurs, and citizen activists, a complete picture takes shape for the first time of the myriad actors, complex goals, and intergovernmental cooperation involved in developing such lauded successes as the new Capital Center, the Providence Place mall, and the award-winning light sculpture, WaterFire." "This book will be valuable reading for policymakers, administrators, political scientists, urban planners, and all concerned citizens of our nation's cities."--BOOK JACKET.