Race, Real Estate and Education: Inventing Gentrification in Philadelphia, 1960-2020 [Hardcover]

Philadelphia’s urban renewal efforts in the 1950s, which re-envisioned the city as a residential enclave, were an early example of gentrification. In West Philadelphia in the 1960s, a coalition of universities and hospitals went further, initiating K-12 public school improvements meant to attract an affluent and whiter population. As Edward Epstein details inRace, Real Estate, and Education, these interventions discounted the negative impact they could have on neighborhood residents.

Epstein outlines the citywide context for the plan to create “University City” in West Philadelphia. He recounts the attempts to correct the segregation, overcrowding, and authoritarian management that plagued Philadelphia’s public schools. As the West Philadelphia Corporation, the proxy for the universities and hospitals, initiated gentrification efforts, the local community resisted and protested, causing the project to fail. The effort was revived with spectacular success, however, with the launch of the well-funded Penn Alexander School in 2001.

Race, Real Estate, and Educationshows how the pursuit of urbanist ideals sometimes deepens neighborhood injustice. Epstein’s exploration of whether Philadelphia’s overall approach was beneficial or misguided presents a cautionary tale.

In the seriesUrban Life, Landscape, and Policy“Epstein presents a nuanced, textured history that is enriched by personal accounts, informative maps, and wonderful, vivid illustrations. In clear prose and with thorough documentation, he fleshes out the many ways that good intentions, naivete, and idealism have combined with greed, concentrated power, and racism to shape West Philadelphia.”—Hidden City

[T]he strengths of this book are its primary source materialsespecially the oral histories with local residents, members of the not-for-profit groups, and other Penn faculty and aló2