Toledo, Ohio has been wooing Chinese investors to its downtown. (Michael Shake/ Shutterstock) 

When struggling Toledo, an industrial city in the American state of Ohio, wanted to attract investment for urban renewal projects, it didn’t turn to leaders in the state capital of Columbus or national leaders in Washington, D.C.  Instead, it looked much farther east — to China.

Aaron M. Renn, publisher of The Urbanophile, reports in the Guardian that Chinese investors are betting big on the Rust Belt city, where 140 factories have closed since 2000.

Toledo’s experience is part of a wider trend of cities acting like autonomous mini-states in a globalized world, the article says. For example, São Paulo has opened “foreign affairs” offices in the U.S., Britain and France, while the New York City police department stations anti-terror officers in London, Tel Aviv and other international locations.

Investment groups from China purchased two downtown Toledo hotels and land along the waterfront for a development featuring a residential, retail and commercial mix. Ten Chinese companies opened offices in the Toledo region.

The China connections were forged by the previous mayor, Michael Bell, who recognized he’d receive little assistance from Washington policymakers, Renn reports. So he reached out to China, where he personally led several business trips. 

> via citiscope.org