The Post-Industrial Condition

Pittsburgh was, and in many ways, still is known as a steel city. From the earliest days, we mined coal in the hills; the coal enabled the production of iron and steel. In 1926 the steel industry reached its climax and then declined. It finally ended its economic, social, and political dominance in the 1980s.

Privatization of our waterfronts cause us to lose 70 out of 90 streets that led to the rivers. The obvious downturn of industry the question is: Who advocates for the values of public access to the rivers?

Unfortunately discussions are often defined by a limited set of interests determined by economic power. Individual citizens lack this power and are often seen as lacking the knowledge necessary to participate equitably in the discussion of complex resource issues. 3R2N attempts to transform this imbalance by emphasizing the importance of a community dialogue which includes diverse citizen interests and ideas.

The 3 Rivers 2nd Nature project places the public realm solidly amidst an assembly of citizens discussing matters of public concern or issues of common interest. It is our belief that the post-industrial public realm is manifest in its discursive/social forms.

>The River Dialogues
>History: Rivers to Lakes

steelworkers

Social Learning/ Communicative Action
"The emphasis is less on what planners know, and more on how they use and distribute their knowledge; less on their ability to solve problems and more on opening up debate about them. In this model planning is about talk, argument and shaping attention." (L.Sandercock)

 "a concept informed by Habermas’ continuation of the critical project of the Frankfurt School - marks a potential new equilibrium in which the knowledge of citizens begins to achieve a status comparable to that of professionals in a process of mutual learning." (M. Miles)