“Main Streets Resurfaced” Opens Dec. 4

The next exhibition at the FOCUS Lab explores the rise and fall (and rise again) of the American Main Street. Over the course of the 20th century, Main Street emerged as more than just a place—it became an emblem of democracy itself, so much so that when Disneyland was constructed in 1955, it centered its park around an ersatz “Main Street USA.”

But the postwar rise of the private automobile, suburbanization, and the Urban Renewal movement of the 1960s and 1970s—in which downtowns were gutted and turned into a series of failed malls and parking lots—ushered in a long decline for Main Streets. Once vibrant thoroughfares were left ragged, marked by empty shops, vacant lots, crumbling infrastructure, and parking spaces.

Recently, small cities across the country have seen multitude of downtown revitalization efforts including farmers markets, co-working and maker spaces, festivals, and walkable urban design. But as we seek to redefine what the modern Main Street should look like in the 21st century, a number of challenges remain. The explosion of e-commerce threatens local commercial systems, storefronts have shifted away from traditional retail models to an experiential economy, and questions of inclusion still linger—Who is welcome on our Main Streets?

This exhibit will explore the past, present, and future of our Main Street corridors and ask how we can continue to gather along these throughlines of culture, business, and community. With case studies from Troy, Cohoes, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and Western MA. Collaborators include Rensselaer Polytechnic, University of Massachusetts, TAP, MASS Design, Blauweiss Media and others.

Exhibit Sponsors: Pioneer Bank, the Rosenblum Companies, and the RPI School of Architecture.