So this is Progress....

      Anderson, SC is more than a place where I go to get away from Clemson for the day, it is my home. I was born in Anderson Memorial and am a product Anderson School District 5. Growing up in Anderson I have seen my city become the definition of sprawl and it has almost full lost its relationship with the downtown. 

The images below are centered looking at the area of Anderson from my parent's neighborhood that sits outside of QT/Hobby Lobby/Olive Garden and the Anderson Mall. The first photo was taken in 1994 and the second image was taken in 2016.

 Anderson 1994

 

Anderson 2016 

These images showcase how the big box stores and parking lots have come to define Anderson over the last 20 years. It has affected developments in Anderson and cause massive issues with traffic throughout the city. 

Reading Kenneth Frampton's article on the six points for an Architecture of Resistance, I have come to realize that Anderson has failed almost all of these points outright. Anderson has become a haven for every big box store on the list. I had to convince my classmates coming up through Clemson that Anderson had a downtown, you just had to keep driving down Clemson Blvd/Main Street. I wish I could visit the old picturesque and historic photos of Downtown Anderson. We had a street car system on main street for crying out loud!! What were we thinking....., I just want my city back!

Frampton references within the last 2 decades modern development has been contributed to the free standing high-rise (which hasn't affected Anderson at all) and the serpentine freeway. This notion of the freeway is EXACTLY what has killed Anderson's Downtown. I will place the 6 lane Clemson Boulevard at fault for this. It has become our catalyst for growth. Hwy 81 in Anderson is seeing a similar growth which is starting the vicious cycle again! 

Anderson has great potential for a unique architectural character with its location to the mega developments of Atlanta and Charlotte. Along with its growing urban center of Greenville right next door, Anderson is primed for smarter growth and can answer a need for the regional growth that is occurring. Anderson actually has a great historic past but, most don't know it unless they research the long ago textile past. I really wish we wouldn't judge Anderson's growth as a collection of big box stores but clearly that is our rating system of growth right now. I long for the old Electric City and a dense/walkable city center.