A Tale of One City: Creative Destruction, Spatial Fixes, and Ideology in Binghamton, New York

Abstract

Revitalization of the City of Binghamton has been seen as a key element for economic recovery of the central New York region. Recently, civic leaders have favored neoliberal strategies. Supporters justify these strategies based on notions of community well being. They also assume that government sponsored creative destruction will counter-act the inherent tendency within capitalism to seek spatial fixes. Archaeological research on the history of landscape transformations in Binghamton demonstrates the depth of capitalist spatial fixes that have contributed to Binghamton’s current economic crisis. The resulting exploitation of labor and the working class was often obscured by ideologies associated with individual achievement or social reform. Thus, the history of capitalist social relations as it was written in the city scape of Binghamton echoes contemporary conditions and has the potential to inform critiques of these conditions.