Savannah Today
With three century long history of wars, revolutions, victories, failures, progresses and downfalls, Savannah today is one of the top 10 cities of the United States. Once named as “The most beautiful city in North America” by Paris’s famous Le Monde newspaper, Savannah in twenty-first century is a thriving city for tourists and businesses. Savannah has four key sectors that paint the identity of modern Savannah. Its four-tiered economy system consist of manufacturing, the port, tourism and military. The manufacturing industry includes some of the largest plants of the nation and relies on paper and forest products, corporate jets, construction equipment, food processing and chemicals. Savannah port is one of its major strengths and features. It is one of its oldest assets and till date counts as one of the largest container ports of the country. The port feeds a number of private and public warehouses in its vicinity playing an important role in the city’s economy. For the last couple of decades tourism has taken over Savannah’s active and rapidly growing business. It draws millions of visitors each year charmed by its historic districts, architectural beauty, affordable living and accessibility. The city’s future broadly lies with its growing familiarity as a tourist destination and serves as a strong potential economic driver. Military has played an important role in the city’s culture, society and economy since the Revolutionary War period. It plays an important role in its economy by providing over twenty four thousands of jobs and generating extra demands on the city’s retail and food business. Despite its reemergence as a thriving city after the nineteenth century downfall, Savannah is still struggling with issues of gentrification, homelessness and troubling socio-economic conditions like homicides and other crimes. However, regardless of all these factors, it has from the year 2000 to 2003, been able secure its name in Expansion Management’s “America’s 50 Hottest Cities for Business Relocation and Expansion”. Also it is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States and according to CNN Money’s one of the “Best Places to Retire” for its continuous efforts of being a residents’ and visitors’ destination.
Evolution of the city (1980 to present time):
After the city’s decline following the wars and their aftermaths, many historic buildings of the city were destroyed and replaced with parking lots, gas station and many lots were vacated as the twentieth century America moved towards suburbanization and automobile dominance. Squares were destroyed to allow highway construction that were never built and building materials of historic buildings were sold out to support the increasing weakness of its economy and overgrowing poor population. Although the Historic Savannah Foundation, established in 1955, showed tremendous effort to restore devastated individual historic structures of the city throughout the later half of twentieth century, nothing much significant could be marked until 1973 when the city government adapted the historic zoning ordinance. The ordinance controlled public interference over alteration and modification of buildings and properties of Savannah’s historic district. It to some extent maintained the deteriorating condition of its historic beauty. Organizations like Savannah Landmarks along with Historic Savannah Foundation contributed to retain Savannah’s status as the largest National Historic District of the country widespread in a land area of 200 acres.
The condition of Savannah in 1980’s was almost similar to the American cities of that era. The negligence of urban America at that time affected Savannah as well in many ways. It led towards persistent social and physical decay that eventually directed the city towards a poor and weak economy. It faced the social issues of homelessness, vacant plots and rising crimes. Although preservationists effortlessly tried to come up with the situation, in the words of a contemporary writer, “Buildings are only one part of the total scene, and as long as concrete slabs, neon signs, utility poles and wires and the vacant lots remain, the total aesthetic restoration of Savannah has only just begun”. However, in 1980s and 1990s Savannah started to grow as a hot tourist destination. According to Linda Lange, the biggest boom for tourism came with the publication in 1994 of John Berendt's novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." Millions of visitors came to see the city depicted so vividly in prose and later in film. But many eminent writers were afraid that this inundation in tourism might harm the Savannah’s innocent and unpolished charm. Mills Lane in his famous book Savannah Revisited stated this fear that “There is a danger that the increasing flood of visitors coming to Savannah will bring with them tawdry commercialization and a fake, carnival atmosphere and speed the cultural homogenization already sweeping across America”.
The problem Savannah had been facing the late twentieth century was recognized by a group of new generation leaders, who, realized that “the buildings cannot be preserved if the economy is weak and people are dissatisfied”. The beginning of twenty-first century gifted Savannah with several entrepreneurs like the Historic Review Board, who transformed tourism from a annoyance to a business opportunity and gifted a new economic sector to reestablish its lost glory. Projects like construction of waterfront complex of the Savannah International Trade and Convention Centre on Hutchinson Island and Westin Savannah Golf Resort helped Savannah grow both as a business and tourist destination. Also with the establishment of Savannah College of Art and Design in 1979, Savannah slowly regained its lost glories of the nineteenth century and established its new four tired economic system of manufacturing, tourism, military and commerce using its century old asset of Savannah port. Unlike many other American cities of its age, Savannah escaped the homogenization trend of big cities across the land and established itself as a city of uniqueness as well as retaining its strata as a “Living city, not a museum”.
The condition of Savannah in 1980’s was almost similar to the American cities of that era. The negligence of urban America at that time affected Savannah as well in many ways. It led towards persistent social and physical decay that eventually directed the city towards a poor and weak economy. It faced the social issues of homelessness, vacant plots and rising crimes. Although preservationists effortlessly tried to come up with the situation, in the words of a contemporary writer, “Buildings are only one part of the total scene, and as long as concrete slabs, neon signs, utility poles and wires and the vacant lots remain, the total aesthetic restoration of Savannah has only just begun”. However, in 1980s and 1990s Savannah started to grow as a hot tourist destination. According to Linda Lange, the biggest boom for tourism came with the publication in 1994 of John Berendt's novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." Millions of visitors came to see the city depicted so vividly in prose and later in film. But many eminent writers were afraid that this inundation in tourism might harm the Savannah’s innocent and unpolished charm. Mills Lane in his famous book Savannah Revisited stated this fear that “There is a danger that the increasing flood of visitors coming to Savannah will bring with them tawdry commercialization and a fake, carnival atmosphere and speed the cultural homogenization already sweeping across America”.
The problem Savannah had been facing the late twentieth century was recognized by a group of new generation leaders, who, realized that “the buildings cannot be preserved if the economy is weak and people are dissatisfied”. The beginning of twenty-first century gifted Savannah with several entrepreneurs like the Historic Review Board, who transformed tourism from a annoyance to a business opportunity and gifted a new economic sector to reestablish its lost glory. Projects like construction of waterfront complex of the Savannah International Trade and Convention Centre on Hutchinson Island and Westin Savannah Golf Resort helped Savannah grow both as a business and tourist destination. Also with the establishment of Savannah College of Art and Design in 1979, Savannah slowly regained its lost glories of the nineteenth century and established its new four tired economic system of manufacturing, tourism, military and commerce using its century old asset of Savannah port. Unlike many other American cities of its age, Savannah escaped the homogenization trend of big cities across the land and established itself as a city of uniqueness as well as retaining its strata as a “Living city, not a museum”.