• Philadelphia: A city in ruins

The Philadelphia Inquirer carried an article about how Philadelphia became the poorest big city in America and various social science perspectives on how that happened. Judith Goode, professor of urban anthropology at Temple University, is quoted as saying that although a new generation of leaders – including Philadelphia’s Ed Rendell – has brought a stronger focus to urban renewal since the 1990s, most of the programs have been aimed at tax breaks for developers and businesses luring upscale suburbanites to the central core. Efforts that would help poverty-stricken neighborhoods – luring back blue-collar employers coupled with job training, or improving public schools – got much less priority.

“Urban renewal hasn’t worked in ways to help poor people,” said Goode. Continue reading “Anthro in the news 5/19/14” →