American Roundtable is an Architectural League initiative, bringing together on-the-ground perspectives on the condition of American communities and what they need to thrive going forward.

Youngstown, Warren, Lordstown, and other communities along Ohio’s Mahoning River flourished as sites for steel and automobile production through much of the twentieth century, forming middle-class communities that prospered for decades. Today, this region is often presented as a poster child for post-industrial decline and all its accompanying challenges. What immediate actions might communities take to ameliorate population loss, superfluous infrastructure, unemployment, and the withdrawal of capital? How can formerly industrial cities reimagine new futures? What can be done to reconnect to nature on sites long defined and scarred by heavy industry?

Join editors Quilian Riano and Kristen Zeiber and report contributors Helen Liggett, Gary Honeywood, and Matt Martin, as they share findings and highlights from their American Roundtable report In the Mahoning Valley. Their informal presentation will be followed by discussion on some of the report’s key ideas and provocations with American Roundtable Project Director Nicholas Anderson and League Executive Director Rosalie Genevro. Read the full In the Mahoning Valley report, beginning April 13.

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