Piece Comment

Review of Reconstructing Providence: Adaptive Reuse, Urban Revitalizat


The producer takes a complicated, potentially dry topic and delivers a fine treatment. There’s lively audio, an interesting original score, and fast-moving, cogent narrative. Piece wisely focuses on two neighborhoods, giving us time to get to know at least a few protagonists and get a real sense of place and of the issues involved. Unhappy artists fearing eviction from illegally occupied mill live/work space tail a building department guy as he inspects: “This place will go up like a matchstick.” The artists’ want affordable, flexible housing, the city wants to keep them alive, especially after the horrific Station nightclub fire. A group of developers want to raze the mills and build a super market, preservationists want to preserve the industrial heritage of the city. Other developers plan for adaptive reuse of industrial buildings in a neighborhood of immigrants who fear being forced out by the gentrification wave that inevitably follows artists. While sympathetic to the artists’ point of view, the lens ranges wide. Although this is about Providence, the issue exists in any urban setting –– affordable housing is scarce all over the country. Conveniently in two parts so could run as short series. Glad to see a talented young producer tackle this kind of subject.