transition and reinvention in the u.s. rust belt in 2014 – cleveland, detroit, pittsburgh, youngstown and toledo.
the former bastions of the 20th Century industrial machine – empires built on auto, steel, glass,rubber, and large-scale manufacturing – that changed the modern world but now struggle to keep up.
from art to biomedical and robotics to urban farming and community programs, each city is searching for ways to transform its economy and perhaps identity.
Ruins from the former Edison power plant in Toledo, OH. The site is being cleared for a proposed marina district.
Allison Hurley and Dan Lake take a break for lunch on an overlook with a view of Cleveland’s innerbelt bridge being dismantled.
Federal Street, Downtown, Youngstown, OH
Visitors tour Carrie Furnace in Rankin, PA – an abandoned steel mill saved from destruction and designated a National Heritage site. It is now used for art space, music, festivals and tours.
Kyle Pattison (left) and Jeff Shaw, Urban Beekeepers at Burgh Bees in Pittsburgh, PA
Kristen Hunninen, Senior Apprentice, Braddock Farms, PA
A technician working in a clean room at Synapse, an Oberlin, OH based biomedical company creating neurostimulation devices used worlwide for spinal cord injury patients. The biomedical and biotech industry in the Cleveland Region has grown from 300 firms in 2002 to over 700 in 2014.
The Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, OH. Once the glass manfucaturing capital of the world, Toledo is now a major destination for glass artists and glass art in the U.S.
Current demolition of the 120,000 sq foot Wean United building. At its peak, the manufacturing plant employed 1,300 in the early 1970s.
A woman praying at Old Stone Church in downtown Cleveland, OH
A burned out and gutted home in Detroit’s University District. With an excess of abandoned homes and buildings, Detroit averages 14 arsons a day.
Robert Xiao calibrates a projection touch interface at the Future Interfaces Group at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA
Ryan Thompson blows glass art at the Glass Pavilion in Toledo, OH.
Current demolition of the 120,000 sq foot Wean United building. At its peak, the manufacturing plant employed 1,300 in the early 1970s.
School kids train at the non-profit Downtown Boxying Gym on Detroit’s Eastside. The gym provides free after school mentoring, training, and academic tutoring to kids 8-18. The students are required to do an hour of homework each day before any boxing. The H.S. graduating rate of students partcipating in the program is 100%, whie the rate in this neighborhood of Detroit is 13-32%.
howard hsu / photographer 