Pennsylvania and other states are coming up short in help to their struggling cities, according to a new report which suggests urban areas are ripe to take advantage of any aid.

The study released today by The Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., research center that often focuses on urban policy, said Rust Belt states are failing to take advantage of their older cities' potential to draw residential and economic development. It pointed to Pennsylvania as a prime example, with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Allentown, Altoona, Erie, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Reading and Scranton identified among 65 "distressed" cities nationally in need of help.

Such Northeast-Midwest cities usually have the kind of waterfronts, public transit, walkable streets, historic architecture and educational, medical and cultural centers increasingly desired by both young and old residents, the report noted.

But too often, the Brookings analysis said, the municipalities lack the necessary support for tax financing, intergovernmental cooperation, downtown revitalization and neighborhood improvement. Usually, more focus has been placed on what the federal government can do to help cities than on state initiatives.

"The state is central to this -- the cities are just creatures of the state," Bruce Katz, director of Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Program, said in a briefing on the report. "States, through their tax and regulatory policy and governance, have a dramatic effect on the ability of cities to build off their assets and strengths."

In its urban strategies, he said, Pennsylvania has been ahead of many counterparts, in no small part because its governor, Ed Rendell, was formerly mayor of Philadelphia. That viewpoint was echoed by municipal advocates around the state, but like Mr. Katz, they also said many city-oriented issues remained to be addressed.

"We certainly think this [Rendell] administration has put a couple of things in place very beneficial to our membership," said Rick Schuettler, deputy executive director of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities. "The economic stimulus package has been very helpful."

He referred to an economic plan that state Department of Community and Economic Development officials say has delivered $2.2 billion to the state's "core communities," large and small, since the governor took office. The stimulus program boosts downtowns in big cities, such as supporting Pittsburgh's Fifth-Forbes redevelopment project, but also helps small-town business districts when those represent the focal point for rural or suburban areas.

The "distressed" Pennsylvania cities identified by Brookings, based on 2000 census data covering municipal and individual economics, could all have qualified for such funds.

Pittsburgh officials and others in the state's urban centers, however, are looking for additional help with mass transit funding, relief for debt-ridden municipal pension funds, flexibility to shift away from property tax dependence and more neighborhood redevelopment assistance, among other needs.

"Whereas the state doesn't need to take care of everything, they need to give localities the tools to make necessary changes," said Kathryn Z. Klaber, executive director of the Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania. She noted one estimate that state action to alter the fragmented municipality-by-municipality tax collection system could help net $100 million now being lost annually by local governments.

"We believe the boundaries we've placed on ourselves restrict cities and metropolitan areas from functioning collectively the way they should," said Todd Vonderheid, a Luzerne County commissioner. "In Pennsylvania, these artificial boundaries need to come down. ... We're all in it together."

Mr. Vonderheid and Brookings officials said they weren't calling for governmental mergers, a hot-button topic that incites opposition in many Pennsylvania municipalities, but rather more incentives for regional collaboration.

Ken Klothen, state deputy secretary for community affairs and development, said the administration's focus has been on a community action team of state officials from eight agencies who focus on revitalization of core communities, by downtown projects and other means. Grants are available to those municipalities that band together to share services, he said, and the governor has resurrected the State Planning Board, which is examining what barriers need to be removed to inter-governmental cooperation.

"I think the governor recognizes some kind of reform of the way we typically do things in local government in Pennsylvania is appropriate, and he's focused on how we can provide that, how we can remove barriers that exist for local governments to get together voluntarily to innovate," Mr. Klothen said.

Still, he acknowledged the bleak outlook in a recent Pennsylvania Economy League analysis of municipal financial difficulties. "As a general matter, the [fiscal] situation of all of our Pennsylvania local communities, not limited to cities, is deteriorating. ... From that standpoint, we have a real problem."

The positive note for mid-sized and large cities, according to the Brookings report, is the lifestyle and amenities they offer that smaller communities can't. The 1990s brought a turnaround in population and economics for many cities elsewhere in the nation, and Rust Belt counterparts may yet be able to catch up. The report said urban centers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, New York and elsewhere were often victims of "benign neglect," in the best cases, or policies such as new road construction that rewarded migration of people and jobs to the metropolitan fringes.

"Major demographic shifts -- robust immigration, an aging population and changing family structures -- are altering the size, makeup and locational choices of the nation's households, to the benefit of the cities that offer the opportunities and amenities these groups seek," the report said. "Economic trends -- globalization, the demand for educated workers, the increasing role of universities -- are providing cities with an unprecedented chance to capitalize upon their economic advantages and regain their competitive edge."

States should help them meet those goals, according to the Brookings analysis, by:

Helping address basic urban needs such as reducing crime and improving neighborhood schools.

Assisting downtowns and industries such as education, medicine and culture that play to city strengths.

Supporting infrastructure repairs and central redevelopment efforts such as waterfronts and public parks.

Helping turn low-income residents into a vibrant middle class with better vocational training and work-related benefits.

Strengthening neighborhoods with backing of mixed-income housing developments and historic renovation projects.

With such initiatives, Mr. Katz from Brookings said, "We think the time is ripe for cities to perform at the highest level ... and city revival is directly connected to metropolitan revival. ... Most of the cities identified in Pennsylvania as economically struggling are actually in metropolitan areas experiencing the same challenges, so intervening in cities can have dramatic effect on the suburban areas as well."

The new report, "Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing America's Older Industrial Cities," can be found at www.brookings.edu.