Home / Lectures / Joshua Akers, University of Michigan-Dearborn

A Land Between Production and Finance

Joshua Akers, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Description

Semester:

  • Fall 2014

Speakers:

Joshua Akers, Urban and Regional Studies, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Lecture Time:

Fri, October 31, 2014 @ 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Lecture Location:

Room R1240, Ross School of Business

Speaker Webpage(s):

http://umdearborn.edu/casl/jakers/

Introduced By:

Introduction by Urban Planning PhD student Josh Shake

Abstract

This talk explores the cultural geographies of meaning revealed in the narration of iconic photographs of decline and how the situated political economy of these structures troubles notions of fixity and place upon which narratives of these images rest and our conceptualization of vacancy and abandonment depend. Though iconic ruins, Michigan Central Station and the adjacent Detroit Public Schools Book Repository, are situated at a nexus of global and local property speculation. The rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Corktown draws on the station in particular as a type of spectacle architecture and marker of place. The active rail lines linking the U.S. and Canada running to the south of these structures are the target of nation-states and global investors. This rail infrastructure is deeply tied into global logistics networks and are pivotal corridors in Canada’s multi-billion dollar effort to capture a greater share of Atlantic trade. It is the siting in logistical space, as border and port, that produces value in the control of these ruins. The struggles over ownership and the volume of flows generate landscapes of vacancy and ruin. These conditions reflect the investment strategies and border controls of nation states, the path-dependent flows of global commodities, and the attempt of local speculators and global investors to wrest control over these sites as a pass through for trade.

Recording & Additional Notes

No additional notes available.