City Backgrounds

Columbus is located near the center of Ohio at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. Although neither of these rivers is commercially navigable, they influence movement and development patterns in the entire metropolitan area. The city's street layout and limited public transportation reflect its growth during the automobile era. Interstates 70 (east-west) and 71 (north-south) intersect near the center of the city. Interstate 670 (the innerbelt)is nearing completion and Interstate 270 (the outerbelt) is being widened.

As the capital, Columbus always has had a significant number of government jobs. In addition, the Ohio State University, insurance companies, and medical services are major employers. Although Columbus has industrial activities, it has never been as dependent on them as many other Ohio cities. Consequently, Columbus' economy has not suffered as much in recent economic restructuring and currently has exceptionally low unemployment rates and very healthy growth rates.

Within the American political system, cities and suburbs usually maintain independent governments. Even under the best of circumstances, this system tends to create competition and tension between the governmental units. One of the defining characteristics of the Columbus metropolitan area is that the City of Columbus has pursued an active annexation policy since the 1950s. This allowed for capturing much of the local growth and keeping annexation lanes open to the edges of the built-up area. Many of the suburban governments have learned a lesson from Columbus and have developed their own competing annexation policies. The result is a relatively low density, sprawling metropolitan area that now spreads into six or seven counties from which Columbus has benefited. However, concerns have arisen about traffic congestion, pollution, loss of farmland, inadequate open space, poor urban aesthetics, declining quality of life, and segregation of subgroups of the population that have come with sprawl. Change has happened rapidly and often haphazardly. The sculpture by OSU Fine Arts Professor Cochran symbolizes this sprawl at the urban edge.

For many years the City of Columbus' annexation did not include annexation to the Columbus School District. The result is an unusual spatial pattern in which a household can reside in the City of Columbus, but live in a suburban-style neighborhood in a new house and send its children to a suburban school. The Columbus School District has seen a steady decrease in numbers of students, an increase in the proportion of minority and students with special needs.

The older, center part of the city may not have benefited from the annexation at the edge. Some center city neighborhoods have lost their middle class to suburban development. Most new job growth is at the periphery while many of the poorest households are in the center. Parts of the center have been destroyed to build freeways; most recently, the innerbelt. New development gets funds that might have been spent on upgrading center city services or infrastructure. On the other hand, a few center city neighborhoods have seen significant gentrification and new construction, while others remain healthy.

When new development or gentrification occurs in the center, it is often at the expense of low income populations and historically important buildings. Low income households may be displaced by gentrification. A downtown enclosed mall replaced old store fronts and single room occupancy housing with windowless facades and murals. A new downtown soccer arena provides the excuse for removal of an old state penitentiary. The city train station remains only in a wall mural on a parking lot. The local bias toward new development over preservation, in conjunction with the current tax code, helps to explain the surprising amount of surface parking downtown.

The class task will determine what constitutes an "American" city. We will then need to examine both Columbus and Dresden for those characteristics and try to understand the processes leading to their existence in the two cities. Seeing similar outcomes in two such different places will provide a special opportunity for understanding urban processes, problems and solutions.