Date of Award

Spring 6-14-2026

Document Type

Thesis (Undergraduate)

Department

Geography

First Advisor

Coleen Fox

Second Advisor

Christopher Sneddon

Abstract

In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire from industrial pollution. Media narratives reframed the river fire as a symbol of environmental degradation, discursively transforming the Cuyahoga River from a place of industrial sacrifice to a place deserving ecological stewardship. Consequently, the river fire catalyzed the modern American environmental movement and local urban river restoration, materially transforming the Cuyahoga River from a place of industrial waste to a place of natural beauty and socioeconomic opportunity. Thus, urban river restoration presents an opportunity for novel placemaking: a local microcosm of the global turn towards urban sustainability. However, there is concern that sustainable cities leave behind working-class residents. Residents’ senses of place, or perceptions and experiences, of restored urban nature are understudied. There remains a knowledge gap concerning the lived realities of restoration and placemaking. Who gains a sense of place at the river, and who is neglected? This project addresses such questions through the lens of political ecology, examining the procedural and distributive power dynamics of restoration and placemaking. I distinguish between the restored river’s manufactured place and lived place, i.e. intentional placemaking and organic senses of place. These findings add local, place-based insights to the environmental histories of Rust Belt urban rivers, and consider diverse perspectives to inspire social justice within ecological restoration. While the Cuyahoga River is no longer on fire, it just might spark action towards equitable, community-oriented human-nature regeneration nation- and world-wide.

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