Reinventing the River City: Riparian Infrastructure, Cincinnati Elites, and the Ohio River

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Raymond Pettit

Reinventing the River City

Name: Reinventing the River City
Price: 52.62 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780820374918

Riparian Infrastructure, Cincinnati Elites, and the Ohio River

Raymond Pettit

$61.95 $52.62

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

University of Georgia Press
01 April 2026

City & town planning - architectural aspects; Interdisciplinary studies; History of the Americas; Historical geography; Urban & municipal planning

Series: Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation

As the first major U.S. urban center located west of the Appalachian Mountains, Cincinnati depended on the Ohio River for its early development, eventually becoming one of the country’s iconic river cities, with incredible growth during the golden age of steamboats. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, the river had lost its shine and became known as the “poor man’s highway.” The twentieth century ushered in a period of incredible activity concentrated on the Ohio River. Local elites began a series of infrastructural projects focused on transforming both the Ohio River and Cincinnati, bringing to the fore a new kind of river city. Unlike many water management projects that wanted to tame rivers, Cincinnati elites sought to build a sustained relationship with the Ohio River. For its part, the Ohio River actively took part in these projects, becoming a major contributor to the successful realization of elite objectives around urban growth, public health, and white supremacy.

By: Raymond Pettit
Imprint: University of Georgia Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780820374918
ISBN 10: 0820374911
Series: Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 01 April 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

RAYMOND PETTIT is a researcher committed to a multidisciplinary investigation of the past. His work has straddled anthropology and archaeology for more than two decades, including studies of Icelandic settlement patterns as part of the CUNY Hunter College Zooarchaeology Laboratory and human rights investigations with the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team for cases such as the Cadereyta and Ayotzinapa massacres in Mexico. In the last decade, he has also been active in fighting for worker rights, including at the Cincinnati Interfaith Worker Center and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. He currently works as director of partnerships at Possibility Labs, an organization he helped found in 2020, providing flexible infrastructure for building a solidarity economy that works for everyone and the environment.

Reviews for Reinventing the River City: Riparian Infrastructure, Cincinnati Elites, and the Ohio River

Reinventing the River City not only provides a new way to think about the Ohio River and its relationship to Cincinnati but also how rivers in general shape urban development, politics, and economics. -- Robert Gioielli * author of Environmental Activism and the Urban Crisis: Baltimore, St. Louis, Chicago * Raymond Pettit has written an engaging history of the dance Cincinnati elites have performed with the Ohio River. In the process, he reveals the ways Cincinnati has evolved to remain a river city. Reinventing the River City is a must read for anyone who hopes to understand the relationships between cities and their rivers. -- David Stradling * Zane L. Miller Professor of Urban History at the University of Cincinnati and coauthor of Where the River Burned * A breathtaking piece of scholarship, Reinventing the River City offers a creative and convincing contribution to the study of human/non-human interactions. In this lively account, the Ohio River becomes a highly agentive player as elites, across time, have worked to create Cincinnati. As a study of place-making, this book is truly next level. -- Jacqueline Nassy Brown * author of Dropping Anchor, Setting Sail: Geographies of Race in Black Liverpool *