Likely Futures Exhibition: Industrial Development
The Industrial Development team worked to reindustrialize the county, town, and port of Salem through a renewable energy transition.
Industrial Development in Salem
Exhibition Day
On March 21, 2024, the Likely Futures Exhibit was held at Meyerson Hall Upper Gallery. The purpose of the exhibit was to visually showcase different potential futures for the small coastal towns located in Salem County and Atlantic County, New Jersey. Our group focused on the connection of the Port of Salem to regional industrialization, both in the past and present, as well as its prospects for the future. We initially identified Superfund sites, brownfields, and hazardous waste located in Salem County, given the current state of the Port as a recognized Salem Industrial District Brownfield Development Area. Then, taking inspiration from Richard McGuire's novel, Here, we created a multimedia collage to portray "Business-as-usual response" and a "Blue Sky response" scenarios of reindustrialization through green-economy and historic preservation investments.
Source: Laura Frances, Lillian Chung, & Yiming Yan
Historical context
Salem is one of the oldest cities in the United States. Officially founded in 1676, Salem City was a growing port of entry in southwestern New Jersey that played a key part in the import-export trades between New York and Philadelphia and the West Indies. As a colonial state at the time, the West Jersey Assembly commissioned the Kings Highway in 1681 which recognized the region's integral contributions to the colonies’ overall economic ecosystem. However, England’s stronghold on the region was relatively short-lived. Sympathetic to the patriot cause and increasingly wealthy thanks to the region’s economic growth, many citizens of Salem contributed monetary aid for the besieged citizens of Boston in 1774.
With the rejection of colonization, also came a rejection of slavery. More than eighty citizens from the Salem area signed an anti-slavery petition in 1770. By the following decade, pacifist Salem Quakers had eradicated slavery within their ranks, and many other slaveholders had followed suit. By 1830, over one thousand free Black residents lived in the Salem area. Many followed the Underground Railroad to Salem, which was considered a refuge as much of the region rejected equal rights for decades to come.
Today, Salem’s heritage is evident in its built environment. Along Market and Broadway Avenues there are dozens of preserved structures that celebrate the city’s founding, industrialization, and regional importance. However, many structures are abandoned and flanked by vacant lots. There is a distinct dichotomy between Salem’s rich history and presently under-resourced town. While there are several organizations doing phenomenal historical preservation work, such as Stand Up for Salem (SUFS), through the Main Street program, there is a shortage of local, skilled craft workers. To develop the local workforce, SUFS is slated to open the Training Center for Old Building Arts in a recently rehabilitated JC Penny storefront in the historic town center.
In our Blue Sky scenario, we depicted a flourishing historic preservation workforce and local economy whose specialized skills also proved valuable for other emergent industries, such as woodworking, glass production or recycling, or weatherized material science. With the extensive investments being made into the region’s wind port, glass science (Salem Community College opened a glass science center in 2019), as well as agricultural innovation, we see a pathway to integrate and leverage the technical skills and growing industries to develop a robust, and climate-adaptable industrial ecosystem that not only strengthens Salem County, but can also prop up Salem City and its incredible heritage for generations to come.
Source: Lillian Chung & Laura Frances
State of the Industrial Economy
The current economy of Salem is very unitary, with most high-wage jobs coming from the PSEG nuclear industry. According to the Salem County Economic Development Vision and Action Plan," any loss or downsizing of the power industry will leave a significant gap in high-wage employment in the region. Besides the direct loss of 1,600 jobs at the Salem-Hope Creek nuclear plants, a 2017 report of PSE&G power plant closings estimates the statewide impact of any closing of nuclear plants." Therefore, our group is developing a town and regional-level diversified economic base focused on material ecology and the renewable and clean energy transition as the county's industrial workforce development continues to face both economic and environmental risks and the rising opportunities of regional renewable energy development.
Source: Xinchen Wei
Green Jobs
The State of New Jersey has a goal of achieving 50% clean energy of the state’s electric power needs and meet the goal of 100% clean energy in 2050. This shift has spurred a predictable increase in the manufacturing industry and green jobs creation.
Three major wind farm projects have been proposed shortly within 2019-2021 along the coast of New Jersey, including Ocean Wind 1 by Orsted (2019), Atlantic Shores and Ocean Wind II (2021). New Jersey Wind Port located in Salem commenced in late 2021, taking advantage of its strength of industrial legacy, abundant and low-cost land, superior highway network, and available and trainable workforce
The wind port project is estimated to cost up to $400 million and will be home to multiple factories that will build the necessary components for offshore wind turbines. It is also strategically situated for component staging, final assembly, and transport. At full build-out, the Port will support up to 1,500 permanent, high-quality manufacturing, assembly, and operations jobs. Overall, the Port is expected to support up to $500 million of new economic activity within the State and the region each year. The development of the port will have a transformational impact on both Salem County and the greater southern New Jersey Region.
Source: Mira Hart, population data collected by Laura Frances
Energy Transition
During our studio travel week, we observed the abandoned remains of a once bustling glass manufacturing industry. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection encourages the renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated land. EPA’s RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative encourages renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated lands, landfills, and mine sites when such development is aligned with the community’s vision for the site. Apart from the reuse of land, our group is also considering the future of how materials like glass from solar panels will be recycled within the energy transition. The New Jersey Solar Panel Commission Report aims to extend the lifespan of solar panels by identifying opportunities for reuse of the materials beyond the current 25 to 30 years. Along similar lines, we are analyzing the life cycle assessment (LCA) for wind power in New Jersey considering different supply chains and offshore wind grids.