Urban Memory Politics: Growth Coalitions, Urban Pasts, and the Creation of Historic Philadelphia

• In Event: 574 - Regular Session. Urban Sociology

Abstract

Buffeted by economic changes and disinvestment, powerful actors in post-WWII American cities attempted to define the city as a space of public culture to confront demographic shifts, suburban growth, and the breakdown of community that many felt were threatening residents’ quality of life. Some civic actors, especially in older cities on the East Coast, looked to a nostalgic and heroic past, a theme of American identity becoming more salient as a result of dislocations caused by rapid cultural and structural changes. To build consensus and achieve urban growth, elites in cities such as Philadelphia searched for identity grounded in a national history, relying on a memory machine to develop and implement plans for economic growth, tourism, and the allegiance of residents. To understand how collective memory is linked to a growth machine we examine the socio-political history of the Independence Hall redevelopment project in Philadelphia (1948-1959) and the development of the Society Hill (1959-1964) neighborhood, given post-war urban strains. Building on models of urban sociology, we argue that memory politics can contribute to municipal growth and civic identity. Urban elites, with linkages to national power, utilize civic memory to justify favored development policies.

Authors

• Marcus Anthony Hunter, UCLA

• Kevin P. Loughran, Northwestern University

• Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University