I remember an editor at the New York Times tried to convince me to write a piece after September 11th saying that this was the beginning of the decline of great American cities. I declined to write the piece. I don't think that's the case now either. Cities will rise again.
I did end up coming back and writing a story that looked at the history of the land underneath the World Trade Center site and how it had been through a series of hellacious events from fires, to massacre of Native Americans. Cities reinvent themselves. nytimes.com/2004/06/27/nyr… 
A bit more
The city rose again...
