Date of Graduation

1999

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Geology and Geography

Committee Chair

Robert Q. Hanham

Committee Member

Calvin O. Masilela

Committee Member

Edward K. Muller

Abstract

This thesis examines the use of nature in the uneven development of Ohiopyle State Park, located sixty miles to the southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The production of this park resulted from a complex system of socio-spatial relationships that existed between Ohiopyle and Pittsburgh during the city's industrialization. The thesis has two objectives: (1) to demonstrate that the park is a space of produced nature, resulting from decades of human activity; and (2) to illustrate the various ways in which the production of this park is an extension of the production of the Pittsburgh industrial space. The thesis addresses these objectives by means of three descriptive-narratives of the park's historical geography: (a) the onset of urban planning in Pittsburgh at the turn of the century; (b) efforts to regulate flood control in the Pittsburgh region beginning in the early 1900's; and (c) the role of conservation groups in the park's production.

Download

Share

COinS