Greater Ohio recently collaborated with a class of Architecture students at Ohio State (we wrote about this in our May newsletter). The students examined the evolution of Ohio’s economy and considered how restructuring the economy to be more export-driven would impact Ohio’s built environment. A few weeks ago, the students presented their final work to Greater Ohio and several faculty members. Below are a few of our favorite examples of their work. The following image depicts the evolution of Toledo’s manufacturing base from light bulbs to solar panels over the last 130 years and illustrates how modern economies often have their roots in our industrial past.
As shown in the following image, the students also recommend that in looking toward the future, we should not completely turn our backs on the past. They identified the enormous potential that the vestiges of the industrial economy offer and suggest that old warehouses, for example, could be used as resources in our transition to modern economy. We like the idea that what are often perceived as eyesores could, with some tweaking, become the venue for a return to economic prosperity.
There are still a lot of remaining questions about what a transition to a new economy means for places in Ohio, but we enjoyed tackling this interesting and important question with the OSU students and look forward to continued collaboration.