Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Gibbs, Joseph
Language:	English
Published:	University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK 2015
Subjects:	Architecture youngstown memory landscape rust belt shrinking cities
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1427981225

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin14279812252021-08-03T06:29:33Z Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio Gibbs, Joseph Architecture youngstown memory landscape rust belt shrinking cities Many post-industrial cities within the Rust Belt and around the world have had to deal with the population and economic loss associated with the readjustment of the manufacturing sector in the modern global economy. Cities throughout the world have been forced to reckon with a new landscape as their built environments must now respond to new economic activities and reduced populations. Some cities have fared better than others but all are dealing with new conditions within the landscape. In recent years Youngstown, Ohio has been forced to come to terms with the decades of negative effects that stemmed from the closing of its steel mills, the primary driver of its economy. In Youngstown, the landscape communicates loss and degradation, the shared history of the Rust Belt. Suburbanization and deindustrialization contribute to a sense of loss that is manifested in vacancy and overgrowth. Repurposing vacant lots that formerly have significant community importance will reframe the perception of the city and reorient the city’s collective memory in a positive direction. The current landscape presents a new and permanent reality that must be rethought and retooled. Youngstown 2010 responds to this new reality through broad urban initiatives. However the large scope of the plan fails to physically reorient people in the landscape and adjust their zones of fixation or sites of interaction. Through localized interventions an architectural response can provide a physical and tangible anchor that allows for the interpretation of a new reality. Rather than reorganizing the physical landscape as the Youngstown 2010 plan suggests the landscape will be embedded with new purposes and will reorient people through and among the landscape reintroducing them to their present reality. A repurposing of Idora Park’s former site must recall the purposes it once held, resurrecting its former assets that allow people to recover what was lost. It must redirect people in space and establish parameters that presence the surrounding landscape and its current state. New purposes will move people through the scarred landscape, transcend the borders of vacant lots, and allow people to trespass and reclaim the land. Scars of a lost past will be reflected upon but new opportunities will be presented. As in the Youngstown 2010 plan and other smart shrink plans, loss is accepted but on an immediate scale that will inform an understanding of the larger landscape and historical context. 2015-06-22 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1427981225 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1427981225 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Architecture youngstown memory landscape rust belt shrinking cities
spellingShingle	Architecture youngstown memory landscape rust belt shrinking cities Gibbs, Joseph Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio
author	Gibbs, Joseph
author_facet	Gibbs, Joseph
author_sort	Gibbs, Joseph
title	Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio
title_short	Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio
title_full	Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio
title_fullStr	Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio
title_full_unstemmed	Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio
title_sort	traces of memory: a response to nature's subjugation of youngstown, ohio
publisher	University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
publishDate	2015
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1427981225
work_keys_str_mv	AT gibbsjoseph tracesofmemoryaresponsetonaturessubjugationofyoungstownohio
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Traces of Memory: A Response to Nature's Subjugation of Youngstown, Ohio

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