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Architecture school host panel on revitalizing Rust Belt cities

Stagnant economies, empty warehouses and low populations — these and other features of Rust Belt cities like Syracuse will be discussed Wednesday and Thursday by a panel in Slocum Hall.

Twenty-five experts will discuss the revival of America’s Rust Belt cities at ‘Formerly Urban: Projecting Rust Belt Futures,’ an event hosted by the UPSTATE center of the Syracuse University School of Architecture.

The panel will investigate the role of design innovation in rebuilding former industrial cities like Syracuse, according to a Sept. 21 SU News Services release. The panel will include five sessions on topics about civic life, regional improvement strategies, landscaping, urban design and financing development.

Adriaan Geuze, a Dutch landscape architect and co-founder of West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture, will deliver the conference’s keynote Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Geuze and West 8, a leading firm in Europe, have created Spadina WaveDecks along the Toronto Central Waterfront, according to the West 8 website. In 2007, the firm won a design competition for a new park on Governors Island near Manhattan.



School of Architecture Dean Mark Robbins and UPSTATE director Julia Czerniak will be participating in the panel, along with several other national and international participants.

UPSTATE: Center for Design, Research and Real Estate at Syracuse Architecture works with local organizations, such as the Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, to integrate academic activity with design and innovation in the city of Syracuse and the region, according to the center’s website. The panel is part of an UPSTATE effort to focus on the city and new urban design projects, according to the release.

The university is also involved in urban revitalization efforts, such as the Near Westside and Southside initiatives and the Connective Corridor.

Cities are beginning to get over the past trouble of urban renewal, said Peter Englot, associate vice president of public affairs.

‘We’ve made huge strides in the right direction,’ Englot said.

Englot said programs that run through SU are helping improve the lives of current residents. SU’s recent development projects depend on working with the residents of Syracuse, not repelling them, Englot said.

‘The whole purpose of the Near Westside Initiative is to lift the community up,’ Englot said, ‘to revitalize the community that is already there.’

geclarke@syr.edu





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