Diefendorf, Jeffry “I Love That City, But Which City?”
“Images As a Tool of Discovery, The Camden Website”
ABSTRACT: In my work in ghetto areas throughout the U.S., I create networks of photographs of urban space arranged according to time and geography. These constantly updated images depicting streets, neighborhoods, former industrial spaces, and churches become instruments that, when viewed, allow cities to talk back to the observer, generating place-specific themes and raising new questions. I also interview local residents. In the summer of 2003, historian Howard Gillette and I launched a web site, based on my photo documentation of two declining industrial cities: Camden, New Jersey and Richmond, California. The Camden material, spanning 28 years, visually demonstrates the complexity of urban change: some parts of the landscape decline, others disappear, some even transform into new uses. Contemporary photographs of Richmond reveal similarly dramatic and uneven development, with elements of both decline and renewal.
Now that the foundations have been laid, the development of the site will be an ongoing experiment in public dialogue. One issue is developing methods of involving the public as more than just visitors to the site. In addition to a circle of contacts in each city that initially focused on the question -- which Camden and which Richmond deserve representation? -- we are now adding an interactive component. Another issue is deciding what type of information should support the images. Fighting against demands to provide a "master narrative," we argue that the site's photographs can be interpreted in multiple ways. We are currently investigating sources for spatially locating demographic data in relation to specific images. This presentation discusses the creation of an image of a city over time, and the successes and failures involved in stimulating an urban discussion on the web.
Session IV: Going Public with the Built Environment
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Invincible Cities website at:
http://invinciblecities.camden.rutgers.edu/intro.html