Audrey Alberto & Lisa Garcia | Dissertaton of Dumping Grounds

Dissertation of Dumping Grounds

By Lisa Garcia and Audrey Alberto

Table of Contents I. Narrative II. Artifacts III. Historical Accounts

I. Narrative

The landfills in the urban areas of Cincinnati, ohio became out of control due to generations of valuing convenience and consumption. society became always hurried and focused on staying busy and constantly occupied or distracted.

Ground level was covered with trash, and affluent neighborhoods put up large walls around them to blockade the trash and wealthy folks have the resources to move to rural areas while low income communities are left to deal with the mess. The socio-economic conditions of living in the city and outside of the neighborhood walls gre drastically worse as the landfill grew.

map of neighborhood walls: communities are disconnected and forced to facilitate interaction.

Ohio becomes first state to make plastic illegal. Numerous protests occurred in order to make this happen. The activist coalition known as the Subaru lesbians were prominent organizers of these events. In order to clean up the ground level, activities on said level are temporarily shut down, with the exception of helping in order to speed up the cleaning process. This began forcing urban areas to build vertically.

Ohio becomes the first official host of the regional midwest beerlympics. All ages beginning to participate in these drinking activities- the biggest example being nursing home beer pong leagues. this becomes a dangerous occurrence that then normalizes drinking culture for other age groups who are too young to consume alcohol and leading to many health and safety concerns.

Flying is the only form of transportion and High rises have landing options for flying cars.

Suburban neighborhoods have adopted communal airplane hangars an helipads for their flying cars in order to keep up with the times. larger city streets were converted into landing strips to accommodate air traffic. Due to the continued spread of landfill, rural residents worked to contain the trash in attempts to hold on to their way of life while having to adopt to flying on occasion for travel and convenience. Other states in the midwest followed Ohio move in making plastic illegal. Yet in spite of all the efforts, pollution remained an issue.

II. Artifacts

Month: October Day: 15th Year: 2031 Journal entry #11

Higher-end/ high tech models are retrofitted for air flow and to provide space for optional oxygen tanks

This model looks to be geared more towards a working suit for those who were tasked to attempt trash clean-up.

Vintage suits are more functional/ practical. all of the protruding forms of these newer suits are more intriguing, but seem to always be in the way This particular suit make motor function difficult but is considered to be high fashion.

Plastic ban protest

View of the street from the 30th floor

Plasric legislation finally being implemented

Month: December Day: 2nd Year: 2031 Journal entry #11

While Subaru manufactures caars, all of these other products featuring the same branding created an opportunity to market as collectibles.

Most of these items seem to be useless, but on occasion there seems to be an item, like this cooler, that was frequently used.

This classic car seems to be collected as well, and is shown off or displayed as a vintage collectors item.

All of these collectibles appealed to collectors, but were manufactured soley in attempts to make profit for the company

Month: December Day: 2nd Year: 2031 Journal entry #11

In order to keep planes in operation for those who could afford it, A few of the downtown mainstreets were kept as clear of trash as possible to use as landing strips

Accessibility to planes was very exclusive and only became more difficult to come by when flying cars were manufactured.

Once cars began to become obsolete (due to the lack of clean roads and landfill expansion) Subaru began to pioneer the design of flying vehicles

Map of Cincinnati with neighborhood call out

Urban neighborhoods divided into city blocks

Skyscraper anatomy with skyports

Social make up of the skyscraper neighborhood

Month: January Day: 3rd Year: 2032 Journal entry #19

Watching the first Beerlympics

Grandma;s beer pong tournament

Month: January Day: 3rd Year: 2032

Helipads were retrofitted to attach to buildings for flight access when ports were too large

Journal entry #24

Often times these landing pads were used in addition to the entry ports to disperse air traffic

these structures are best for the hovering subaru models, but were able to accommodate many typologies of flying car

Higher-end/ high tech models are retrofitted for air flow and to provide space for optional oxygen tanks

Higher-end/ high tech models are retrofitted for air flow and to provide space for optional oxygen tanks

Month: March Day: 8th Year: 2032 Journal entry #34

Suburban ports were much larger than those for condensed city blocks and were able to accommodate more traffic despite serving a smaller population

These ports were multilevel and were used for foot traffic and air travel.

Since these were larger spaces, they also served as gathering spaces for each suburban community

suburban lifestyle in the wealthy neighborhoods, where walls kept the trash at bay

Diagram of the suburban section and the social stratification of the suburbs to the approaches of the city

Month: May Day: 3rd Year: 2032 Journal entry #39

the tunnels almost create a whole secondary city that is completely hidden underground

The network of these tunnels connects every major city block , allowing access to all of the lower levels of skyscrapers without having to fly to a skyport.

These tunnels also provide access to every major landmark in the city as well, and allows additional space for occupation which attempted to help with overcrowding

Month: May Day: 3rd Year: 2032 Journal entry #39

The tunnels connected the city in an underground gris, which allows for a secondary or hidden city in the same location as the Cincinnati above the trash

Buried buildings were retrofitted to accommodate long term ocupation and living

II. Historical Accounts

FIELD NOTES

Month: December Day: 2nd Year: 2031 Journal entry #11

In order to keep planes in operation for those who could afford it, A few of the downtown mainstreets were kept as clear of trash as possible to use as landing strips

Accessibility to planes was very exclusive and only became more difficult to come by when flying cars were manufactured.

Once cars began to become obsolete (due to the lack of clean roads and landfill expansion) Subaru began to pioneer the design of flying vehicles

Skywalk Cafe/Coffee Shop

expand the amount of living space that is available

interconnected series of walkways to connect skyscrapers

Open air, to give public outdoor space

Skywalk Perspective

Require an ID in order to have use/ passage

interconnected series of walkways to connect skyscrapers

High Rise Apartment

Modern ameneties and fixtures, considered luxury accommodations

gives way to city views and lots of light

Subject A- Female College Student Transcription: “On an average day, I absolutely hate having to leave my apartment to try and study, but today I was incredibly annoyed with my three roommates. I felt that they were being and consider it when they know I have finals coming up. My only escape from their noise was the skywalk coffee shop, which I was surprised to find fairly empty.

Besides the barista it was only me and a few other college students, who appeared to have the same goal as I did. Thankfully the cozy and bright, but also quiet, atmosphere was just what I needed in order to be productive.

I easily lost track of time and had to rush after realizing that I was late picking up my grandmother from her nursing home unit, for our weekly walk. Fortunately, she was understanding, and she even made a joke about how she wasn’t the one making us late this time.

I laughed with her remembering how it is almost a ritual for her to forget her ID for skywalk access. We decided on taking our normal route, but grandma did mention that we could try a different level for next week to explore new shops and visit the new market in the next building over.

I dropped her back off and headed to my apartment unit, dreading confronting my roommates. I was surprised to have come home to silence and a note inviting me out to the bar when I get a chance.

I messaged them that I’d be there in an hour making after making dinner and ordering a flight share. This left me plenty of time to get ready since the pickup port is just down the hall, and I was able to take advantage of the alone time that I rarely get.”

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Skywalk Cafe and Restaurant

focuses on views and fine dining for wealthy residents of the skyscrapers

provides a reprieve in the circulation of skywalks

open and bright to a natural light as poss

allow for as much sible

Skywalk view

provided access between buildings, allowed for city blocks to connect

Nursing Home Unit

large window with a penthouse view

seemingly spacious and accommodative.

Subject B- Elderly Grandmother Transcription: “I began my day with my neighbor inviting me to breakfast at the new cafe that opened on our floor, near the nursing home units. Ever since the new policy for elderly the relocation was implemented, I have been able to live a more leisurely lifestyle. I can’t complain about the relocation because the new accommodations and amenities are wonderful, but I cannot seem to adjust myself to the skywalk lifestyle.

I fully understand why they moved the elderly citizens up to the towers with all of the hazards that the trash poses, however I do frequently find myself feeling melancholy about the past when you could walk around outside. This is something that I tend to bring up frequently with my granddaughter on our weekly walks, but today she casually brushed it off as she normally does. I can understand why, as she has never known anything but the high rises. Even so, I always enjoy our walks, and even though we don’t have fresh air, the skywalks are quite bright, and the views are beautiful. After she walked me back to my nursing home unit, I needed to figu re out how to fill my time before dinner. It gets to be lonely on occasion when it is difficult to keep busy and all of your friends are housed in facilities on other skyscraper blocks. When dinner rolls around I go to pick up my neighbors to go try another new restaurant on the lower-level comma as I spend the rest of my evening being grateful that I do not have to cook tonight.”

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Dimly lit, little to no access to natural light

bartender’s apartment in the tunnels,

Small and cramped, shoved together with a cluster of similar units

large kitchen funded by rich patrons to ensure quality cuisine

Connection to the club dining room

Tunnel Club kitchen

collapsed section of the tunnels

layers of trash in landfill

leakage of trash from ground level

Subject C- Underground Bar Tender Transcription: “The pile up of trash has gotten so out of hand that there was a collapse in the earlier portions of the tunnels by my residential complex.

While there were no casualties this time, it was one of the first collapses where no one was hurt. The few that had happened a week earlier were drastically more deadly. This time was in an abandoned portion, but my neighbors and I have gotten so used to these accidents resulting in death that we almost considered celebrating that no one was hurt. The infrastructure down here has been rapidly decaying ever since it had been built, and we all have to live in extreme caution.

Despite raising these concerns to the city, only minimal repairs have been done.

Having to go into work today was difficult and I felt very distracted since my desire was to be helping with the cleanup efforts. But I can’t afford to miss a shift, so instead I went to serve at the underground tunnel club for all of our wealthy patrons and members who were completely oblivious and as demanding as ever. They completely disregard the struggles that residents face by living in the tunnels. Coming home after work made me feel even more guilty for not immediately helping with the cleanup and repair efforts, however I was too exhausted to be of any assistance and resolved that I would dedicate my off day tomorrow to clearing out rubble at the collapse site.”

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High rise office

bright open windows with maximum natural light

Sweeping city views from the corner desk

Tunnel Club dining room/lounge

frequented by wealthy clientel who live above ground

dimly lit purposefully to set the atmosphere

space used predominantly for private business dealigs

Pentouse conference room

frequently seen flying cars speeding past high rise buildings

Subject D- Wealthy Businessman Transcription: “Having to leave my office to take business lunches and dinners always felt to be such an inconvenience. I hate this aspect of my work due to the inefficiencies that it causes, since it would be faster to just talk things out at my desk, but I digress. This is something I have to do in order to humor my clients. However, today is even more inconvenient having to go to a new lunch location all the way in the tunnels. This club was recently introduced to me by a coworker, and this particular client that I am meeting with heavily suggested that we go somewhere new for our meeting today. I tried to avoid having to go down to the tunnels as much as possible, but now that the business development in the tunnels has begun, several of them are now cleaned and maintained to allow for wealthy tourists. Today the club was slower than usual. The staff seemed to be distracted and were difficult to track down. I began to get irritated; it is pertinent that this lunch went well. I made a mental note to file a complaint about the service, but Luckily my client did not seem to mind. All went well and we went back to our high-rise conference room to draw up the contracts. Securing this client has secured me a promotion, not that I needed it, but it is welcomed all the same. ”

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Subject E- Single Mom Transcription: “It’s five am. I have 90 minutes before I have to fight to get the kids out of bed. A picture of Jim sits on the table. It was only a year ago Jim was diagnosed with cancer before he died and left the kids and I here in this hell alone to survive without him. Coffee and cigarettes keep me company each morning as I sit at the dining room table grading homework and tests. My tears fall and warp the pages below.

Everyone is hurting and tensions are high.

Life is so hard for us without him.

Samantha tripped over another dead body in the tunnel on her way to school. Death below the surface is part of life for those that cannot afford to live up. For us that are forced to survive below, death and decomposing bodies are all too familiar. Is it wrong that I want to check the pockets of dead bodies in hope of finding money or something worth selling? I’ll never get over the smell.

It’s been so long since I last walked in a park and enjoyed the outdoors. I remember playing, running in the open fields and flying kites with my dad growing up. It tears my heart apart knowing my children will likely never experience what it was like before Cincinnati became a toxic dump.

It would only take thirty minutes for the kids and I to reach the school if we were able to access the bridges and skywalks above. Instead, it takes an hour and a half each day to navigate through the hot and humid.

I picked up a side hustle as a server at a local diner to save money to put down as a deposit to buy a home above the surface. I know I should not have dipped into the fund, but I found last minute tickets online to fly the kids and I to Florida to visit their grandparents. The kids haven’t seen their grandparents in five years.

For the most part, I think adults and children are learning to adapt in a world that has become so segregated that there are only two kinds of people. The ones that live above the surface and those who live below it. “

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Subject F- Wealthy Elderly Man Transcription: “I feel no empathy for those that live below the surface.

Every person is accountable and responsible for the choices they make, and the actions they take.

It is not that I look down at people because they are poor.

I look down at people because, for the most part, they are lazy.

I see them for what they are. They are where they are for good reason.

For more than a decade, I have worked with business leaders from around the world to restore order. Sometimes hard decisions must be made for the greater good. Leaders make it to the top because they are ruthless and capable of not allowing emotion to get in the way of doing what must be done, that is why I joined city council.

I live in the penthouse of the tallest and most luxurious skyscraper in the city. I busted my ass for decades to achieve success. I don’t own a dozen flying vehicles and real estate all around the world because I wished for them.

My wife argues that my actions and intentions are heartless and cruel condemning the non-rich to exist below the surface. I think what bothers her most is the disgust I never fail to share when I see one of the below the surface dwellers breaching security and accessing private zones restricted to their kind. Tonight, I am sleeping in the guest bedroom. Again, in the doghouse. “

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Subject G- Empty Nester Immigrant Woman Transcription: “Darkness is all I see. I never minded the dark before the toll system.

It’s been 3 months that the toll system was installed. It changed my entire life. I feel as if my wings were ripped off and I was forced underground to die.

The toll system has forced many immigrants to move to the underground. So many new faces.

I don’t think that the underground is developed enough to home this many people. We have always lived underground, but before we had a choice.

Not anymore.

My husband and I like to walk to the nearby station and sit underneath the dome. The sunlight feels so good. I miss being able to see the sky. We sat there for hours talking about the kids and when they were little.

As soon as they are able to, they want to come and visit.

On our way back from our walk we ran into my neighbor Yolanda.

She informed us about a man who is providing immigrants with fake I.D’s for an unreasonable amount of money.

We would have to use some of our emergency money in order to do that.

For the first time in a while, I felt hopeful.

Having an I.D would give us access to the city above ground level.

It would give us our freedom back, even if we couldn’t afford it.

At the same time, I don’t know whether I should trust this man.

Last thing we need is to get into trouble and be deported. “

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Subject H- Career Oriented Young Man Transcription: “I am crushed.

The Toll System was approved, and all our effort were tarnished.

It feels like no matter what The Underground Dwellers do, the rich will always win. This two-class system of rich versus poor only benefits the rich at the expense of everyone else.

The price of everything only keeps going up.

Paychecks keep going down.

Corporate profits are at record highs.

The Sky Dwellers continue to live like Kings and Queens in their castles in the sky. While the rest of us are forced to live underground like caged animals in a zoo.

After The Toll System was approved, things only got worse.

My life became the definition of exhaustion.

Many of TUGD quit showing up to meetings.

I could see the loss of momentum in the group.

On top of that I was spending a fortune on commuting.

The paying lines to use the skywalks were always long.

This is especially true for the one that leads to our meeting place.

It’s made me late more times than I can count.

I can’t stand being late.”

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