I understand what you are saying here but I think Nolan is trying to point out that Batman's fight is a continuous cycle. He helped clean up Gotham and it felt more like a real city instead of a crapshoot and then when Joker came he threw a monkey wrench into it which shot Batman back down to the bottom. I bet in the third film Batman will be hated in the beginning but be loved again at the end of the movie.
I live in chicago and coming back from the theater i walked past every location.