I suspect that you're 180 degrees out of phase with the cycle of deterioration and rebuilding in cities. Deterioration started in the 50s as the combination of easy mortgage creation, tax benefits, highway building outside cities all combined to gut previously vibrant cities and create suburban sprawl.

In some ways this process has been slowing down and may have reversed in the 90s. The housing crisis was one of the clearest signs that the reversal of the process is well under way. The mortgage deduction has been mentioned as going under the axe. That, and a whole lot of people are questioning assumptions about the received wisdom of 'home ownership', really renting from a bank until you clear the mortgage and state through property taxes, versus simply renting outright.

The Watts riots in 1965 and Chicago riots in 68, and a whole lot between and after were symptoms of what happens when cities are emptied out, face declining tax bases, but browner people are stuck, unable to move out to the suburbs because of red lining and discriminator lending practices. It wouldn't have been so frustrating for them stuck in the cities if jobs had stayed but with a unemployment rate many times that of their white counterparts, deteriorating physical situations, overstressed services and wide swaths of unoccupied housing it was only a matter of time before they rioted.

The cities are not back to what they were in the 50s but the shine has come off the 'good life' in the suburbs while many cities have shown remarkable improvements in livability.

Some of this shift is also being driven by energy costs. Fact is that city dwellers use less energy per person, and are generally healthier, than their suburban counterparts. Living in a city where you can walk to most of what you need to get to, where public transport makes makes up the difference, where vehicle ownership is entirely optional, means you spend less time in traffic, save money, stay healthier, and are more attuned to your neighborhood.

Cities are machines for living. They are also economic powerhouses. In any disaster cities are gong to get emergency services and relief faster and in great abundance. Partly this is because that is where the people are, partly because that is where the money gets made, and partly because that is where the people who make the money hang out.