CLEVELAND & REVITALIZATION

a real face-washing for all downtown [2019]

This project looks at the “revitalization” of central neighborhoods in Cleveland, Ohio, and the control that white suburban elites exercise over the cultural narrative of a majority-black city. Who opposes preservation and redevelopment in the city, and who supports it? Which neighborhoods undergo revitalization, and why? Which residents are affected, and how? This project looks at these questions through the cultural frame defined by social scientist and geographer Doreen Massey as power geometry, which explains how ​time-space compression inherent in globalization affects people differently. It examines Cleveland through the lens of those in power, or those who do the moving and the communicating and are in a position of control in relation to it: the white leaders of private foundations, heritage societies, and preservation alliances. 

Archival and geospatial research in Cleveland suggests that the contemporary redevelopment of the majority-black city and the preservation of the majority-white suburb are not only deliberate, but they also build upon decades of racist land-use regulations and housing policies and discriminatory lending and building practices. To “revitalize” a majority-black community is to exclude and expel existing residents, but to “revitalize” a majority-white community is to restrict and protect the built environment. To “revitalize” a majority-black community is to renew it, but to “revitalize” a majority white community is to preserve it. This thesis argues that for some time, historic preservation has been thought of as an antidote to urban renewal, but today’s historic preservation practices should be considered a continuation of urban renewal policies.