SOUTH BEND, Ind. _ It was Jacob Titus' favorite running route when he trained for high school track: along the train tracks to the sprawling warren of machine shops, assembly lines and warehouses on the city's south side, and then into the abandoned factories themselves.
Decades ago, these buildings whirred with activity _ and none more so than Studebaker Auto Co., which had powered South Bend to prosperity.
Hollowed by decades of disuse, these factories were testament to the city's decline. Titus couldn't stay away.
"The scale _ it's just crazy. Just how big and empty and just completely dark," he said. "They were very alluring."
If Titus, 27, tried to revisit that route now, he'd run into a few obstacles. The Studebaker tool room is now home to South Bend City Church. The paint lab houses businesses including a biotech startup and a coding school. The six-story assembly line, once most recognizable for its broken windows, is the anchor of a major commercial redevelopment project catering to the city's burgeoning tech scene.
It was there that Pete Buttigieg officially launched his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
No city has been as integral to the presidential campaign of its hometown candidate as South Bend has been to its former mayor. The 38-year-old, who has a far shorter resume than his rivals, presents his tenure as proof of his governing experience and vision.
But while most of the national coverage fixates on the yes-or-no question of "did Mayor Pete do a good job?" residents have been grappling with a broader question that predates Buttigieg and will outlast him: What does it mean for a city to reinvent itself?
The lively downtown and sparkling parks are signs of change that are largely driven by government officials and business leaders. But many residents describe a deeper transformation _ a collective exercise in building a new identity.
"I'm not here because buildings got renovated," said Titus, a graphic designer and podcast host. "I'm here because there was a vision that I latched on to, of what we could do here, and how I could be part of it."
But in a city whose decline lasted decades, some South Benders can't help but wonder whether this upturn will last. Change has made its way through town unevenly, with many in its black and Latino communities feeling left out.
"He's had control over the narrative _ that narrative has been 'South Bend is back,'" Jorden Giger, an activist with Black Lives Matter, said of Buttigieg. "Well, how can South Bend be back when most working families here are struggling, when the school system is failing, when the black community is in dire straits?"
The mood, said Jason Miller, lead pastor of the nondenominational South Bend City Church, is just as complicated as its narrative.
"Right now," he said, "I would describe it as hopeful, energetic _ and tense."
