Philadelphia’s Next Challenge: From Urban Revitalization to Inclusive Prosperity

Philadelphia’s transformation over past two or three decades has been nothing short of remarkable. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, over the arc of my career as an urbanist. Philadelphia has long been one of my favorite cities. Having grown up in New Jersey and having gone to college at Rutgers, I’ve been visiting and tracking the city since the mid-1970s. I saw it in perhaps its most hard-pressed days and cheered on the stunning revival of its downtown area over the past decade or so. I’ve been visiting even more now, as a result of this inaugural Philadelphia Fellowship, sponsored by Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University City Science Center, where I have been working with local stakeholders and academics to benchmark where the city stands on key metrics and to develop strategies for more-inclusive development for the future.