The Archaeology of Urban Blight

Summary

This presentation explores the reconfiguration of urban landscapes in postindustrial cities by discussing how materials removed from blighted neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan, and Cleveland, Ohio, are reused and resold as tangible heritage (in the form of furniture or personal accessories), often in different parts of the same city. Mapping the transfer and reuse of building materials reveals patterns of urban change and (re)development over time and provides insight into regional understandings of how blight and its removal figure into narratives about urban "regeneration."

Using data from ethnographic interviews and analysis of marketing and media coverage, I argue that the process of reclamation transforms urban blight from something threatening and pathologized—an aggressive "cancer" that can take over an entire city—to something that residents can wear and incorporate (in a contained, sanitized way) into their homes and/or wardrobes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016   •
• Historical and Contemporary Archaeologies of the City: Opportunities and Challenges

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 594