The Other Side of the Tracks

Abstract

Industrial cities depend on the landscape to provide the conditions and resources necessary for their existence. In the process, this industry has eradicated the landscape. This thesis heals this landscape.

Interstate 83 in Baltimore, Maryland epitomizes the affects of contemporary and historical infrastructure on a site. Roads, train tracks and sewers allows for efficient transportation and a measure of control over the elements; yet it does so with little sensitivity to the uniqueness of a place, local physical or historical connections and the natural processes that contribute to the health of people,organisms and landscapes.

This thesis intends to use Baltimore and the I-83 corridor as testing grounds to assess and address issues present in a post industrial age of machines. This thesis analyzes aging industrial cities by proposing connections, defining edges, re-integrating natural processes and revealing the unique potential embodied in a place.