Investigation 2: At Home in Columbus by Joshua Bauman

INVESTIGATION 2

AT HOME IN COLUMBUS Joshua Bauman 1

3 Journeys Images Retrieved from Bing Maps (2013) & Manipulated by Author

The present day city of Columbus, Ohio is a growing metropolitan urban environment. Situated in the rela vely central geographic region of Ohio, the city has witnessed many stages of development that are common amongst ci es in the United States. Following its founda on, it grew significantly to be the largest city in Ohio and among the largest in the United States. To many, Columbus is an economic success story, fairing economic downfalls be er than most ci es because of its broad economic base and resilient educa on and healthcare industries. But Columbus is definitely an urban center, and has many of the standard issues that come with the density and demographics that define that typology. Some consider my hometown of Granville, Ohio, a suburb, but I be er iden fy as a sub-rural community (whose geographic distance is of a significant enough distance from the metropolitan limits of Columbus that they are definitely separate en es). Many similari es and diﬀerences can be seen between Granville and Columbus throughout the li le more than 200 years that either have existed, and I will analyze Columbus in rela on to Granville at three specific space- mes:

Time-Space 1: Since the new millennium, the city limits of Columbus have been losing popula on to the peripheral suburban communi es that define its metropolitan scope. Granville has tried to curtail its popula on by inten onally pushing development to outside of its village limits. Time-Space 2: Connec ons between Granville and Columbus have only grown over the past decade. Ohio State was formed just north of Columbus’s urban center, whereas Capital University grew within Bexley, an indepdent inner-city suburb. Time-Space 3: Though Columbus and Granville had similar beginnings of a blank geographic slate (in terms of raw land only touched by Na ve Americans before them), their similari es end there. Granville had the desire to grow into a manufacturing powerhouse but was bypassed by the na onal infrastructure in the early 1800s. Columbus was se led as the capital of Ohio and witnessed an influx of growth when both the Na onal Road and the Ohio-Erie Canal were connected to it specifically. Ul mately, while the history and present condi ons of Granville and Columbus diﬀer, their contrast reinforces the urban-rural binary and what can truly define a place as ‘home’.

INVESTIGATION 2: AT HOME IN COLUMBUS | JOSHUA BAUMAN | LA 5630 | BENNETT | AU 13

TIME-SPACE 1 Columbus & Suburbanization [2000-present]

Image Retrieved from Bing Maps (2013) & Manipulated by Author

While I was arriving in and acclima ng to Granville in 2000, a surge con nued amongst the outskirts of Columbus. The growth of the metropolitan area was occurring on the periphery of the city, with many residen al and commercial developments occurring in response the growth in popula on areas throughout the late 1990s and 2000s (“Census shows Columbus’ growth was uneven” 2011). Like in Granville, many of the independent ci es that border Columbus, like Hilliard, Westerville, Dublin, Pataskala, New Albany, Gahanna, Reynoldsburg, were all experiencing growth but were trying to cope in ways that they maintained their iden es, rather than becoming “placeless” like the emptying Columbus downtown area (Lefebvre 2003, 9). In Granville, this surge was met by growth in selec ve sectors, with much development forced outside of the village limits in neighboring Newark (Barno 2013, 3). This is basically imposed urban sprawl, exactly what Columbus was trying to avoid. In Columbus, this me period saw the opening of Easton Town Center, an indoor/outdoor shopping center built to bring all shopping together in one high-end environment. This development included major developments in the surrounding area, like oﬃce complexes, new headquarters, apartments, recrea on fields and venues, new transporta on hubs for the Central Ohio Transit Authority, and an immense economic s mulus for the adjacent Columbus suburb, Gahanna (“Easton Town Center” 2011).

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City of Columbus Department of Development Planning Division (2012). City of Columbus 2000-2010 Change for the Total PopulaƟon. Retrieved from hƩp://development.columbus.gov/demographics/census/maps.aspx

INVESTIGATION 2: AT HOME IN COLUMBUS | JOSHUA BAUMAN | LA 5630 | BENNETT | AU 13

Downtown Columbus responded to the “placelessness” le by the emptying downtown core by demolishing City Center Mall which once defined a significant area right in downtown (where the Columbus Commons now exists) and urging redevelopment to bring people back downtown (“Census shows Columbus’ growth was uneven” 2011). One of the biggest proponents of this urban revitaliza on was the investment and construc on of the Arena District, combining massive entertainment venues, retail, dining, residen al, and oﬃce development (“Arena District” 2013), and its density allowed for a very walkable footprint, “suburbanizing” the urban downtown area by u lizing “size…as a func on of the social rela onships to be served” (Mumford 2011, 95). While recent redevelopments in downtown have been responding to people returning to live in the “trendy” urban areas closer

to the Columbus core, suburbaniza on con nues to the be overwhelming trend, as can be easily seen in the popula on projec ons (“Census shows Columbus’ growth was uneven” 2011). As stated by Lefebvre, Columbus is forming as a poli cal city, as defined by the organized, civil life of people, with the surrounding smaller towns and villages (as defined by Columbus neighborhoods and peripheral suburbs) as part of the city’s governmental jurisdic on (2011, 9). Columbus has defined itself by its cultural, educa onal, commercial, and entertainment ameni es. It has followed Mumford’s vision of “the city in its complete sense…a geographic plexus, an economic organiza on, and ins tu onal process, a theater of social ac on, and an aesthe c symbol of collec ve unity” (2011, 94). Columbus has far more people to serve than a li le village like Granville, Ohio, and a heterogeneous popula on at that. While the suburbs can re-urbanize themselves with their specializa on of demographics (Mackinder 1907, 338), it is more diﬃcult for an urban center to have a single specialty and therefore the sprawl and re-defini on of Columbus are its way of finding its holis c iden ty in the present day.

Blue Jackets (2013). Arena District Parking Update. Retrieved from hƩp://bluejackets.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=75841

Journey 1 explores the economic redevelopment in Columbus in rela on to the bike path, a constant means of travel for me while growing up in Granville.

U.S. Census Bureau data processed by USA Today (2010). PopulaƟon ShiŌs. Retrieved from hƩp://drawthelinemidwest.org/ohio/census-shows-columbus-growth-was-uneven/

Image Retrieved from Bing Maps (2013) & Manipulated by Author

INVESTIGATION 2: AT HOME IN COLUMBUS | JOSHUA BAUMAN | LA 5630 | BENNETT | AU 13

TIME-SPACE 2 An Urban University [present] I went “away” to school north of downtown Columbus but I was never far away from home. Traveling between Columbus and Granville has become totally second-nature to me, and it seems as if they two are intrinsically connected. But, what if I went to a university in a suburb of Columbus more like my own sub-rural hometown? While Granville may be considered a technoburb, with its own independent development of technological corpora ons (Owens Corning) alongside its independent retail, green space, etc. (Fishman 2011, 75), many similari es can be found in the enveloped Columbus suburb of Bexley. The city was founded independently of Columbus, but as with other neighboring se lements like Worthington and Franklinton, spwaling Columbus enveloped the anteceding surrounding communi es (“Columbus, Ohio” n.d.). Since that me, Bexley has struggled to maintain its independence as an enclave. It has retained its downtown as well as its very suburban demographics. It maintains greater concentra ons of bachelor’s degree holders, a much higher median income, and an overwhelmingly Caucasian community (almost 90%) (“Invisible Fences for Humans” 2009) [as seen in the by the darkest color concentra ons outlined in the maps to the right]. Like Granville, it houses a private, liberal arts university that significantly defines the community, ac ng as the catalyst for economic development and demographic iden ty within Bexley. I o en view Granville as a sub-rural escape from my very urbanized university of Ohio State. While it is not located in “downtown” Columbus, OSU is located to the north of downtown amongst the sprawling residen al neighborhoods of Columbus past, present and future. This places OSU in the truest “urban” atmosphere of being surrounded by dense human ac vity, be that traﬃc conges on, pedestrian traﬃc, crime, emergencies or just community and cultural events that occur within the diverse, Midwestern metropolitan that is Columbus (Engels 1998). Bexley is also in close proximity to Columbus, but it has maintained its own iden ty by having its own government and city regula ons (“Invisible Fences for Humans” 2009). This allows the city to be er serve its specific popula on, as Mackinder remarks in terms of exterior boroughs “re-urbanizing” via par cular special es to focus on centraliza on (1907, 338). As my understanding of the urban landscape that I reside in semi-permanently increases, so does my comprehension of the sub-rural landscape that defines Granville. Columbus epitomizes the urban landscape, as civiliza on that serves people alone. Granville is what every rural town aims to be in terms of maintaining independence and the aesthe c of exis ng amongst otherwise untouched, natural space, as the sublimity of nature. Therefore, Bexley is the epitome of the middle ground, as a suburban loca on where civiliza on and nature can coexist, while being a sort of urban “pastoral” that shares urbanity with a rural aesthe c (Marx 2000, 100).

Image Retrieved from Bing Maps (2013) & Manipulated by Author

Household Income

White Households

Housing Values

Bachelor’s Degrees

American Dirt (2009). [see individuals]. Retrieved from hƩp://dirtamericana.blogspot.com/2009/12/invisible-fences-for-humans-part-i.html

Journey 2 explores Capital University in Columbus, a more sub-urban se ng than Ohio State 10

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Image Retrieved from Bing Maps (2013) & Manipulated by Author

INVESTIGATION 2: AT HOME IN COLUMBUS | JOSHUA BAUMAN | LA 5630 | BENNETT | AU 13

TIME-SPACE 3 Historic Columbus [1812-1850]

PlaƩ, Hiram (1819). Plat of Columbus, As Incorporated 8th Jun. 1818. Retrieved from The Ohio gazeƩeer, or, topographical dicƟo nary: describing the several counƟes, towns, villages, canals, roads, rivers, lakes, springs, mines &c., in the state of Ohio (1819) by John Kilbourn.

Many of the towns and se lements in Ohio at the turn of the 19th century were fron er se lements founded by New Englanders. My hometown of Granville was founded by se lers from Massachuse s and Connec cut for fer le land in a new loca on. The ini al organiza on of early Granville was decided by the New England Puritans that se led there (Barno 2013, 3). Their religious dedica on was the center point, with the main circulatory thoroughfares mee ng at an intersec on known as the “Public Square.” This square is defined at its four corners by churches represen ng four Chris an denomina ons (Granville Historical Society). Within the early days of Granville, the se lers expected the town to become a large, expansive manufacturing town. However, the geographic loca on the se lers had chosen for its topographic advantages lacked proximity to the major infrastructural installa ons of Ohio at the me. Granville was too far north of the Na onal Road and too far east of the Ohio canal system to become nodes on either system (Granville Historical Society). This lacking of necessary nodality prevented it from becoming major power, subsequently leading to its founda on as an educa onal center instead of physical manufac ng and industry. This is contrary to Mackinder’s idea that “modern industrial towns, based on local supplies of mechanical powers of metals, may grow large enough although lacking much nodality… But, if such communi es endure, they tend to create a kind of ar ficial nodality” (1907, 330). As opposed to Granville’s otherwise arbitrary se lement, Columbus was founded with great strategy and organiza onal thought. Following Ohio’s statehood in 1803, there was a debate over the loca on of its capital. Chillicothe and Zanesville had both held the tle, but the Ohio Legislature desired a centralized spot to become the permanent loca on for the Ohio Statehouse (“Columbus, Ohio” n.d.). In surveying the fron er se lements, like Worthington or Franklinton, it made sense to locate the new capital in a central geographic region. The intersec on of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers near the geographic center of Ohio seemed the ideal spot, which Cox recognizes as having great nodal poten al by its interpenetra on

The Columbus Railway Co. (1901). WyandoƩe Building. Retrieved from hƩp://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/OldColumbus/downtown.cfm

INVESTIGATION 2: AT HOME IN COLUMBUS | JOSHUA BAUMAN | LA 5630 | BENNETT | AU 13

of water for commerce or transporta on (2012, 5). This loca on had already been an important trading and naviga onal route for Na ve Americans. This Na ve American Scioto Trail followed the Scioto, Lower Scioto, and Sandusky Rivers from Lower Shawnee Town (modern day Portsmouth) in the south on the Ohio River to Lake Erie to the north (“Highway Chronicle” 2013). “Prior to the state legislature’s decision in 1812, Columbus did not exist. The city was designed from the first as the state’s capital, preparing itself for its role in Ohio’s poli cal, economic, and social life” (“Columbus, Ohio” n.d.). The ini al organiza on was intended to take the high ground along the Scioto, across from the neighboring se lement Franklinton. The city grid was skewed 12 degrees west of north to line up with the earlier Franklinton se lement. The original statehouse was constructed in 1814, and by 1834, with a popula on of 4000, it became a ‘city’ (“Columbus, Ohio” 2012). The growth of Columbus can be a ributed to its transporta on proximity, including the Ohio and Erie Canal (connected to Columbus in 1831) and the Na onal Road (which had been constructed to Columbus come 1836) (“Highway Chronicle” 2013). With these connec ons, plus railroads coming in the 1950s, Columbus became a prosperous and growing city, held steady with the backbone of civic ameni es, state government , and eventual educa onal ins tu ons (“Columbus, Ohio” n.d.). The forma on of Columbus had a clear ra onale, with the necessary “spa al iner a” (as coined by Cox) to be successful (2012, 27). How the city essen ally grew from nothing is the epitome of the idea of rural (or in as natural a state as possible for incoming se lers) becoming urban by means of popula on condensa on and development (Marx 2000, 85). While there was not agriculture in the loca on that Columbus would come to inhabit, Columbus can definitely be understood as the urban fabric overtaking nature, with the rural serving as the market for the urban (Lefebvre 2003, 4).

Image Retrieved from Bing Maps (2013) & Manipulated by Author Granville Historical Society. n.d. The Most Eligible Part [Map], Retrieved from Granville Historical Society Museum.

Riches, William (1830). Columbus. Retrieved from The Ohio Historical Society.

INVESTIGATION 2: AT HOME IN COLUMBUS | JOSHUA BAUMAN | LA 5630 | BENNETT | AU 13

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JOURNEY 3

Image Retrieved from Bing Maps (2013) & Manipulated by Author

Historic Downtown Columbus Capitol Square is the heart of downtown Columbus and has changed over me as the city has grown. The square remains at the corner of the two original arteries of Columbus, High Street and Broad Street. My journey began on a Sunday a ernoon [November 3, 2013, 2:34pm – 4:50pm] a er arriving downtown by COTA bus. Contrary to my ini al plan, the bus dropped me oﬀ at the northeast corner of the square. There is a small church (1) on the corner of Broad St and Third St, just across from where I got oﬀ of the bus. On this eastern edge, there is a dis nct lack of the skyscrapers that defines every other peripheral edge of the Statehouse site. The tallest building on the east is the Columbus Dispatch building (2), as evident by the large adver sing sign that tops the structure. Otherwise the gaps between buildings are filled with parking lots. The Senate house is the easternfacing component of the Statehouse complex. It has a formal, simplified entrance, close to Third Street, signifying a need for quicker access. All Photographs by Author (2013)

On the corner of State Street and Third Street, across from the southeast corner of Capitol Square, there is an old U.S. Post Oﬃce building which is grand and historic, juxtaposed by the modern, nondescript skyscraper that houses the Sheraton Hotel on the West side of Third Street. This massive footprint awkwardly meets the corner, its cutout coming back from the street and crea ng a triangular courtyard space. This is a nice space, though empty on the weekend, which brings down the massive scale of the buildings with a small canopy of trees for comfortable human inhabitance. From the back of this space you can enter an abandoned shops that meander through to the recently completed and con nuously developing Columbus Commons, a highly adver sed and programmed new green space for Columbus, which is just south of the historic Ohio Theater (3). Walking back towards the Statehouse, the theater is not on axis with government center (4). The echo of the COTA bus announcer comes ringing out of the shell created by the buildings along the west side of High Street. These buildings are very impersonal, lacking iden ty or a rela onal scale. Though one supports an art gallery, you would

INVESTIGATION 2: AT HOME IN COLUMBUS | JOSHUA BAUMAN | LA 5630 | BENNETT | AU 13

All Photographs by Author (2013)

never guess by its façade. Capitol Square is very disconnected from the river. Although it is on higher ground, the amount 6 of setback has been highly developed. Moving northward, across High Street from the statehouse, a small pedestrian alley way tempts me down towards the Scioto River, the first real hint at a grade change towards the river from the otherwise flat city plot. City Hall and judicial buildings are what define the river’s edge. Moving back eastwards on Broad Street, the LeVeque tower and the Palace Theater (8) are great landmarks. The Wyando e Building (9) s ll remains as originally built. The corner of High Street and Broad Street is interes ng. On the SE corner is the far-set-back Statehouse. To the SW, there is small-scale 8 art piece that beckons entry to the historic Hun ngton Bank building. The NE corner is defined by the modern scrolling text and video playing from the 10TV News headquarters (10) (truly at the heart of Columbus), a small scale building that seems to hint at the lights of New York City. The NW corner is dominated by a gigan c skyscraper. The southern corners hold history while the northern corners suggest progress and advancement. Moving east on Broad Street, across the street from Capitol Square there is a strange mixture of old low-rise offices cut by blocks and a massive skyscraper that houses 10 state legal offices. Moving further east on Broad Street, there is unique Columbus history, including St. Joseph’s Cathedral (12) and the site of the first Wendy’s fast food restaurant, a strange topic to see on the “Ohio Historical Marker.” I ended my journey with the Columbus Metropolitan Library (14), a trek away from the statehouse. Ul mately, the defining iden ty of this downtown core is civic/government, as was originally planned. The Statehouse is an object within a void, created by vastly varying density on any given side. Within this urban core, you can tell that Columbus was planned from the beginning for its role as a 12 state capital, as Mumford solidifies by explaining that “the physical organiza on of a city, its industries and its markets, its lines of communica ons and traffic, must be subservient to its social needs” (2011, 94). The streets are wide and there is a great sense of rural space that comes from this sprawl. However, this ul mately takes away from the density that makes a city feel urban. There is a rural influence of the open road here, with the center of the city being a civic landscape with a low, iconic building, but without any real consistency for the surrounding periphery. The en re Capitol Square, arranged very symmetrically, also lacks exterior rela onships 14 with its strong on-site axes. What is meant to be a strong urban center feels incomplete. On a Sunday all of the businesses are dead. There are close to no open restaurants, and the only people I witnessed were either jobbing, migra ng towards the COTA bus terminal on the High Street side of Capitol square, or the homeless who had bunkered down in various spots. Downtown Columbus is the epitome of the commuter workplace. It is only alive on the weekdays, and on the weekends it is a shell of itself with only light ac vity in recrea onal spaces and the library.

All Photographs by Author (2013)

INVESTIGATION 2: AT HOME IN COLUMBUS | JOSHUA BAUMAN | LA 5630 | BENNETT | AU 13

Columbus, Ohio

is an interes ng urban specimen. It is not a quintessen al urban environment because it lacks the density to be so. The urban core has been hindered by movement to the suburbs. However, unlike other ci es in the region, it has greatly benefi ed by being both an educa onal center (with The Ohio State University) and a civic center, as the capital of Ohio. In recent mes it has undergone redevelopment pa erns of revitalizing certain downtown districts to bring residents back to the urban center. This urban center has been unevenly developed, but it has good bones. It has the infrastructure, ameni es, and proximity to be very successful. But it will always be figh ng against the pastoral American Dream of being in a suburban neighborhood of which Columbus is en rely surrounded. However, to siphon oﬀ the young professionals, downtown “new urbanism” districts have been developed, such as the Arena District or the Columbus Commons, focusing on mul -use development and having everything within walking distance, a very suburban ideal. Truly, un l the city is able to rise above the inunda on of cars, it will not be able to thrive as a truly urban center once more. This almost sub-urban development could be a massive asset as ci es try to “suburbanize” their urban centers. Columbus, like Granville, s ll has many defining a ributes that will con nue to serve its growth. The ques on is whether the growth will occur outside the outer belt, between the inner belt and outer belt, or within the inner belt. Only me will tell.

Photograph by Author (2013)

WORKS CITED “Arena District” (2013). Touring Ohio. Retrieved November 7, 2013 from h p://www.touring-ohio.com/central/columbus/arena-district.html Barno, Maggie (2013). Welcome to Granville. Granville Magazine, 2013, 3. “Census shows Columbus’ growth was uneven” (2011). Draw the Midwest. Retrieved November 7, 2013 from h p://drawthelinemidwest.org/ohio/census-shows-columbus-growth-was-uneven/ “Columbus History Facts and Timeline” (2013). TravelSmart Ltd: World Guides. Retrieved October 27, 2013, from h p://www.world-guides.com/north-america/usa/ohio/columbus/columbus_history.html “Columbus, Ohio” (n.d.). Ohio History Central. Retrieved October 27, 2013, from h p://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Columbus# “Columbus, Ohio” (2012). Pearson Educa on, publishing as Infoplease. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from h p://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108501.html Cox, Kevin (2012) “Human Geography.” n.p. (dra manuscript) “Easton Town Center” (2011). Steiner + Associates. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from h p://www.steiner.com/Projects/EastonTownCenter.aspx Engels, Frederick (1998) “The Great Towns”, The Condi on of the Working Class in England, transcribed by Tim Delaney. Retrieved from h p://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/condi on-working-class/ch04.htm Fishman, Robert (2011) “Beyond Suburbia: The Rise of the Technoburb”, The City Reader, edited by Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout, 75-83. New York: Routledge. “Highway Chronicle” (2013). Franklin County Engineer’s Oﬃce. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from h p://www.franklincountyengineer.org/franklin_county_highway_chronicle.htm “Invisible Fences for Humans” (2009). American Dirt. Retrieved November 7, 2013 from h p://dirtamericana.blogspot.com/2009/12/invisible-fences-for-humans-part-i.html Lefebvre, Henri (2010) “From the City to Urban Society”, Urban Poli cs 1: 293. Mackinder, Sir Halford John (1907) “Economic Geography”, Britain and the Bri sh Seas, 329-340. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. Marx, Leo (2000). “The Garden”, The Machine in the Garden, 73-144. New York: Oxford University Press. Mumford, Lewis (2011) “What Is a City?” The City Reader, edited by Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout, 92-95. New York: Routledge.

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