Divided by More than a Road: The West Fairmount Park and Parkside Neighborhood
Open Access
- Author:
- Hesse, Arielle Leah
- Area of Honors:
- Geography
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Lakshman S Yapa, Thesis Supervisor
Lakshman S Yapa, Thesis Supervisor
Roger Michael Downs, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- geography
Philadelphia parks
poverty
community asset theory - Abstract:
- Social problems are often approached with the essential question: why? The interrogations that follow search for root causes to problems, a form of reasoning that understands issues in linear terms -- a problem requiring a solution. Yet as our world becomes increasingly interconnected, linear approaches to problem solving have less and less success. For example, though West Philadelphia has been subject to most of the traditional corporate and state approaches to poverty alleviation including economic development and welfare, poverty still persists. Thus, the frameworks with which we understand social issues like poverty must be destabilized and rethought as webs of relations, rather than root causes with solutions. As a member of the Philadelphia Field Project for the past two field seasons, I developed a research project focused on the West Fairmount Park, an important asset within the urban landscape of West Philadelphia, a space located just across the street from the neighborhood labeled Parkside. From an analysis of park usage, amenities, needs and proposed projects, the park emerges as a site of action. The park has the potential to assist Parkside residents meet their own needs without the constant infusion of outside capital. This approach could increase the self reliance and long term resilience of the neighborhood. Yet, the community asset approach this thesis pursued is flawed. Its failures highlight material and discursive barriers that will make progressive change difficult.