Revitalizing the Rust Belt: The Philly Revival

As strong advocates of our collective communities, Rust Belt Nation is proud to continue our “Revitalizing the Rust Belt” series with our next up and coming city - Philadelphia. Though many larger Rust Belt cities were devastated by the economic downfall of deindustrialization in the 60s, these same cities have made great strides towards progress and improving the livelihoods and economies of their communities. This week, we’ll take a look at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and how hardworking Americans worked together to rebuild their own communities, with a conscious effort to avoid displacing their own residents. 

The city of Philadelphia is widely known for the Liberty Bell, the home of Rocky, and its world-famous cheesesteaks - but it also maintains a reputation for poverty and rundown neighborhoods. However, city leaders and community advocates have made moves to ameliorate the situation in recent years through infrastructure repair, rebuilding neighborhoods, implementing education reform and investing back into their communities. 

Fundamental to revitalizing a city like Philadelphia is the repair and investment into its infrastructure. Residents and community leaders have been working for years to improve the city’s water systems, transit, and more. In 2017, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced a $550 million plan to improve roads and bridges, repair over 200 miles of highway and provide maintenance. With the onset of more storms due to climate change, Philadelphia has also become a leading example in developing green infrastructure to prevent sewage from ending up in their waterways. Through the $4.5 billion Green City, Clean Waters program, started in 2011, Philadelphia aims to capture redirect stormwater runoff in environmentally conscious ways to avoid flooding sewage and overwhelming the city’s drainage systems. 

The Office of Transportation & Infrastructure Systems (oTIS) targets improving street safety and accessibility for pedestrians and bicyclists, while also working to eliminate traffic deaths by 2030. These are only a few examples, but Philadelphia has made a concerted effort to rebuild itself and an even larger investment in the money, time and resources it will take to accomplish. 

Another major proponent that showcases how Philadelphia is coming back stronger than ever is its housing and neighborhood rehabilitation programs. Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia is taking a holistic approach to improving the quality of life in their communities through their Neighborhood Revitalization effort. A major proponent of this effort is the Sharswood/Blumberg Neighborhood Transformation Plan - a $500 million pursuit that started in 2015, as a “planning process focused on assessing the underlying causes of the neighborhood’s distress, identifying community needs and strengths, articulating a vision for positive change and revitalization, and developing a realistic roadmap for moving forward to implement the community’s vision.” Led by PHA, or the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the Sharswood/Blumberg plan is meant to set an example of revitalization without gentrification, meaning that the people who live there (rather than single leaders or corporations) will have a say in its repair and development, and that those who are displaced amidst the renovation will have affordable housing to come back to. They’ve emphasized the importance of allowing those displaced by the development to have affordable housing to return to, and an economically viable neighborhood in which to live. A key to this, they’ve noted, is through schooling. 

“Just as a school can destabilize a community and permeate [one] that is trapped in poverty, a school can also help break that cycle,” says the president and CEO of PHA, Kelvin A. Jeremiah. In fact, the PHA enlisted the help of Big Picture Learning, an education management program, to reopen a high school that was one of 22 to close in 2013 due to budget deficits, and turn it into an Innovation Network School, a public school with its own 501(c)(3). Philadelphia’s own school district is also noticing a marked improvement in their quality of education as well, acknowledging that though there is much work to be done, the improvement is noteworthy. 

As with any other project, the pursuit of revitalization is not without its hiccups, misfires or complications, and Philadelphia is no exception. However, to acknowledge how far the city has come in a few decades is quite extraordinary and emblematic of the hardworking, homegrown American community we celebrate here at RBN. We’re excited to see where Philly is headed.