Meanwhile, on earth, the story of Charleroi seems to be one of automation and factories moving overseas that has seen nothing but decline for decades.

Not an uncommon story, either. You can name three such towns/cities without much thought, no matter where you live - North or South, or Midwest. It's a sea-change as mighty as the Great Migration, and with similarly-scaled knock-on effects. But it's diffuse.... so largely unheralded