Ruination and Post-industrial Urban Decline

Author(s):  
Alice Mah
2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina L Tegtmeyer

Based on the premise that pictures are not only culturally but also economically meaningful in the context of tourism, this article proposes a rearrangement of MacCannell’s model “semiotics of attraction” to discuss current negotiations of meaning of sight/site marking with urban photography. In Detroit, the city’s negative image has changed from ill-reputed urban wasteland to picturesque ruinscape of “America’s Great Comeback City.” Turning the post-industrial shrinking city into a tourist attraction has not resolved socio-economic problems but instead commodified them. Carving out the underlying neoliberal ideology in cultural meaning of urban decline at the example of Detroit’s changed image, this article puts forth to debate in how far tourism shifts from being a leisure activity to being a marketing strategy and what that means for negotiations of cultural values through tourism semiotics, the significance of photography, and the visual in urban tourism, and eventually for the significance of tourism in urban development.


Author(s):  
Ellie Abrons ◽  
◽  
Meredith Miller ◽  
Adam Fure ◽  
Thom Moran ◽  
...  

The story of post-industrial urban decline in America is well known. Bustling cities fall victim to changing economic structures and globalization. Wealth moves out of city centers, leaving behind evacuated buildings and vacant lots where houses once stood and transforming vibrant neighborhoods into sparsely populated areas that lack the density necessary to sustain urban life. Municipalities deem abandoned buildings “blight” and assemble task forces to eradicate them. In response to this pressing urban reality, we have been developing a speculative approach to reusing buildings and materials called “reassembly.” Reassembly views a building’s materiality as a matter-of-fact, as a resource for architecture stripped of the negative assumptions commonly associated with disused properties. Building components are taken apart, moved around, piled up, and mixed with new construction to create alternative uses and forms


Author(s):  
Tom Adam Davies

This epilogue considers the developments in racial progress since the decades covered in this volume. It shows how millions of African Americans find themselves mired in poverty and trapped in a world shaped by post-industrial urban decline and the retrenchment of the welfare state, their chances for a better future severely constrained by the failure of public education and the persistence of discriminatory practices in employment, housing, credit and insurance markets, the criminal justice system, and a range of public institutions. Having more African Americans holding elected office, working in corporate management positions, owning their own businesses, or working and studying on college campuses over the past few decades has not substantially undermined structural inequality or cyclical black poverty.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-286
Author(s):  
James Rhodes

Abstract In the context of deindustrialization and urban decline, America's industrial heartland came to be re-imagined as the 'Rust Belt'. Synonymous with outmoded and decrepit landscapes, identities and practices, the term has operated as a form of stigma, as places such as Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh became symbols of industrial, institutional and individual failure. However, in the contemporary period 'Rust Belt' is increasingly accompanied by an apparently incongruous term: 'chic'. Focusing on the narratives and essays of a younger, educated and predominantly white demographic, the article explores discourses of 'Rust Belt Chic', examining the social, cultural and political significance of this emergent phenomena thinking through the ways in which it constructs the past, present and future of deindustrialized landscapes. It is argued that within these narratives the region is valued for its liminality, for its proximities to the industrial past and a sense of history and tradition, along with its distance from what is seen as the failures of the post-industrial city. The article considers this reappraisal of the region and its material and symbolic significance in the context of deindustrialization and urban regeneration, examining how claims about the region are used to articulate a particular form of urban 'authenticity'.


Detroit has come to symbolise deindustrialization and the challenges, and opportunities, it presents. As many cities struggle with urban decline, racial and ethnic tensions and the consequences of neoliberal governance and political fragmentation, Detroit’s relevance grows stronger. Why Detroit matters bridges academic and non-academic responses to this extreme example of a fractured and divided, post-industrial city. Detroit has long been portrayed as a metonym for urban failure, most often depicted through its ruins and abandonment. However, more recently, a new narrative of comeback has emerged. While both narratives depict parts of the city, they do not tell the entire story and need to be critically examined and placed within wider socioeconomic-, political-, geographic- and racial-contexts. This edited volume seeks to critically understand these contexts to examine both the lessons from Detroit’s recent history and the new and inspiring visions which can currently be found there. Rather than only seeing decline and abandonment, these visions and the scholarly pieces within the book offer hope for a fair and just urban future. Contributions from many of the leading scholars on Detroit are joined by influential writers, planners, artists and activists who have contributed chapters drawing on their experiences and ideas. The book concludes in a unique way with interviews with some of the city’s most prominent visionaries who are engaged in inspiring practices which provide powerful lessons for Detroit and other cities around the world.


IDEA JOURNAL ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
Cathy D Smith ◽  
Michael Chapman

This paper will deploy French philosopher Bernard Stiegler’s neo-Marxist notion of the contributory economy to explore conceptions and practices of ‘DIY (Do It Yourself) urbanism’, with a specific focus on disused interior spaces. Reference will be made to contemporary design and architectural discourses on DIY urbanism and design activism, particularly in relation to the Renew Newcastle scheme in Newcastle, Australia. Although Renew is now a recognised model for urban regeneration, it began in 2008 as a socially-orientated experiment within the unoccupied shopfronts and tenancies of this rapidly transforming post-industrial city. Its DIY urbanism occurs alongside established institutional and commercial entities and as such, it could be superficially understood as an extension of, rather than an alternative to, mainstream project procurement models. Here, Stiegler’s invocations of contributory economies, driven by an ethic of care or cura, suggest a way of understanding Renew Newcastle’s urbanism as a participatory economy coexistent with the same capitalistic economy that prompted the urban decline it addresses.


2003 ◽  
pp. 26-39
Author(s):  
V. Maevsky ◽  
B. Kuzyk

A project for the long-term strategy of Russian break-through into post-industrial society is suggested which is directed at transformation of the hi-tech complex into the leading factor of economic development. The thesis is substantiated that there is an opportunity to realize such a strategy in case Russia shifts towards the mechanism of the monetary base growth generally accepted in developed countries: the Central Bank increases the quantity of "strong" money by means of purchasing state securities and allocates the increment of money in question according to budget priorities. At the same time for the realization of the said strategy it is necessary to partially restore savings lost during the hyperinflation period of 1992-1994 and default of 1998 and to secure development of the bank system as well as an increase of the volume of long-term credits on this base.


2004 ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Buzgalin ◽  
A. Kolganov

The "marketocentric" economic theory is now dominating in modern science (similar to Ptolemeus geocentric model of the Universe in the Middle Ages). But market economy is only one of different types of economic systems which became the main mode of resources allocation and motivation only in the end of the 19th century. Authors point to the necessity of the analysis of both pre-market and post-market relations. Transition towards the post-industrial neoeconomy requires "Copernical revolution" in economic theory, rejection of marketocentric orientation, which has become now not only less fruitful, but also dogmatically dangerous, leading to the conservation and reproduction of "market fundamentalism".


2018 ◽  
pp. 5-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Grigoryev ◽  
V. A. Pavlyushina

The phenomenon of economic growth is studied by economists and statisticians in various aspects for a long time. Economic theory is devoted to assessing factors of growth in the tradition of R. Solow, R. Barrow, W. Easterly and others. During the last quarter of the century, however, the institutionalists, namely D. North, D. Wallis, B. Weingast as well as D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, have shown the complexity of the problem of development on the part of socioeconomic and political institutions. As a result, solving the problem of how economic growth affects inequality between countries has proved extremely difficult. The modern world is very diverse in terms of development level, and the article offers a new approach to the formation of the idea of stylized facts using cluster analysis. The existing statistics allows to estimate on a unified basis the level of GDP production by 174 countries of the world for 1992—2016. The article presents a structured picture of the world: the distribution of countries in seven clusters, different in levels of development. During the period under review, there was a strong per capita GDP growth in PPP in the middle of the distribution, poverty in various countries declined markedly. At the same time, in 1992—2016, the difference increased not only between rich and poor groups of countries, but also between clusters.


2017 ◽  
pp. 100-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Abankina

The paper analyzes trends in the development of the creative economy in Russia and estimates the export potential of the Russian creative industries. The author demonstrates that modern concepts of cultural heritage preservation focus on increasing the efficiency of its use and that building creative potential and systematic support of the creative industries are becoming a key task of the strategic development of regions and municipalities in the post-industrial era.


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