Taking Back the City, One Building at a Time
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 04. 4.08
all pictures Stewart Cairns for New York Times
We do go on about the urban infrastructure that is being wasted in rustbelt cities on the Great Lakes or the Erie Canal, that have water, highways and wonderful buildings that can be repurposed. (see Richard Florida on Tor-Buf-Chester) Mark Robbins, Dean of Syracuse University School of Architecture gets it- according to the New York Times, "His ambition was to help revive, and even remake, the city."
Downtown Syracuse was cut off by a highway in the 60's; buildings were abandoned, and Dean Robbins told the Times “The big resource in Syracuse is basically surface parking lots and vacant buildings.”
So he bought a bank for $ 200,000 which is by any big city standard, chicken feed. “The only way you can get that stuff to happen is if people believe you are invested. The only way to get people to believe you are invested is to live here.”
Other professors are joining him in the reoccupation of downtown. Leslie Kaufman writes of Kevin Lair, who left an architecture practice in Boston to join Syracuse as an assistant professor last fall, recently bought a 6,300-square-foot former bottling factory about 10 blocks north of Mr. Robbins for $165,000.
He said it was the prospect of taking part in the transformation of Syracuse that pulled him in. During his interview with Mr. Robbins, he realized that they shared a vision of melding academic thought with practical application.
“When I toured during my job interview, the main thing that stood out was the relationship of the school of architecture to the community,” Mr. Lair said. ::New York Times
see also Making the Rust Belt Work Again
Is it Even Possible to Turn Tide of Migration Towards Cities for Young Families?
Razing Buffalo: Why is This Happening?
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admirable job, nothing is greener than bringing new life to old structures. i do wish that the focuswill be on location and quality space and infrastructure and not pure speculation.
admirable job, nothing is greener than bringing new life to old structures. i do wish that the focuswill be on location and quality space and infrastructure and not pure speculation.
This is how it's done, and how cities come back from the brink.
Personal investment by people with vision and commitment, creating value where others can only see wreckage.
And a tasty looking rehab project, too.
First off, the place is amazing and I am personally jealous. I have long wanted to buy old established buildings of Indiana's forgotten towns. These small towns are basically empty after thier industrial boom and likewise many of these buildings are architectual gems for bargain basement prices.
The problem is: Mr. Robbins and others are employed by the University of Syracuse and actually "have a reason" to live in these towns. Conversely, most rust belt towns provide few jobs, and therefore no reason for any lay person to reside there.
So...I consider this an isolated example of opportunity provided by local employement. I am more than willing to discuss any objections, or ideas and more...because at all costs we need to reclaim these urban spaces and exit the suburbs.