Suburban Wasteland
A case study surrounding an abandoned housing development in the City of Whitehall, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.
Suburban Wasteland Video
Suburban Wasteland is an installation-based art project about the decline of the Woodcliff Condominiums and similar communities around the country. Documentary images and an experimental video employ anachronism to piece together a complex, decades-long narrative around place, housing, development, and gentrification.
After the City of Whitehall declared the neighborhood a nuisance, A 12-year legal battle between residents, property owners, and city politicians ensued. The city acquired and presented plans for a new development that would displace residents to make room for higher-rent apartments and gentrification. Despite repeated denial from city officials, local activists revealed documents proving that the city has had plans to “redevelop” the neighborhood since 2009 when they contracted a construction firm to design blueprints for a mixed-use development.
When I visited in March 2022, I met a former resident, walking the streets of Woodcliff one last time. The woman said that she and her neighbors were kicked out of their homes with less than a month’s notice, and the city’s treatment of them left her feeling as abandoned as the empty shells of homes standing before us.
Woodcliff’s last remaining condos were demolished in February 2023 to make way for a new $300 million apartment complex. Today, all that remains of the neighborhood are crumbling streets and empty lots awaiting new purpose.
