Changing the Face of the City

A Year Long program Series

In 2022 The Carpenters’ Company will partner with the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the Weitzman School of Design and various other organizations on a series of programs and events that explore the intersection of historic preservation and urban planning/renewal through the lens of equity and social justice.

Throughout this year, we will present a series of programs and events that explore the intersection of historic preservation and urban planning/renewal through the lens of equity and social justice. “Changing the Face of the City” was the phrase renowned urban planner Edmund Bacon used to describe Philadelphia’s renaissance in his classic 1967 book Design of Cities, unintentionally alluding to the literal consequences of many preservation, planning, and renewal efforts. These are typically framed with aspirations of positive goals and motives but have often reinforced or amplified racial or class divides, deepening our nation’s inequities and injustices. These programs are meant to engage the academic community, the building professions and the general public and benefit from partnerships with many relevant community organizations. This series specifically features both virtual and on-site programming as we navigate the COVID19 pandemic.

What to expect:

Speaker Series: The Carpenters’ Company will present three virtual public programs featuring experts discussing various aspects of our topic from both a historical and contemporary perspective. The virtual format will allow us to engage speakers from outside the region and to reach the broadest possible audience. All speaker events will include audience Q&A and suggested reading lists. Speakers and program dates are pending. 

Digital Exhibit: This project will entail the curation of a digital exhibit, hosted free on the Carpenters’ Company’s website, that will visually depict, over the centuries, the evolving physical landscape immediately surrounding Carpenters’ Hall. This landscape was dramatically impacted by the development of Independence National Historical Park in the 1950s and ‘60s, a significant example of urban renewal inspired by historical themes and imagery (launching summer 2022, in partnership with the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia and Independence National Historical Park).

Walking Tour: Carpenters’ Hall is adjacent to two well-known case studies of preservation and urban renewal, Philadelphia’s residential neighborhood of Society Hill and Independence National Historical Park. As part of this series, there will be a walking tour of Society Hill and INHP that focuses on the contested interplay of planning and preservation in these post-World War II projects--particularly as they unevenly affected existing community members along lines of race and class--and the role that members of the Carpenters’ Company played in that redevelopment (September 2022, in partnership with the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia and Independence National Historical Park).

Temporary Exhibit: Carpenters’ Hall will host a temporary exhibit that will be free and open to the public six days a week. The exhibit will use Census data to visually map the evolving racial and socioeconomic demographics of Society Hill before, during and after the neighborhood’s redevelopment (November-December 2022, in partnership with GeoPhilly).

Student Research Symposium: Throughout 2022, graduate students in area Historic Preservation and Public History programs will identify and conduct research projects related to our project theme. Potential programs from which we aim to draw student researchers include the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at Thomas Jefferson University, Center for Public History at Temple University, and History Graduate Program at Rutgers University-Camden. A selection of students will present their research topics and findings to date at an on-site symposium that will be free and open to the public (October 2022, in partnership with the Philadelphia Black History Collaborative).

Panel Discussion: This project will entail a panel discussion of leaders in the built environment to explore how the historic dynamics of preservation and urban renewal have affected current practices in real-estate development, housing, etc. (December 2022, in partnership with Urban Land Institute-Philadelphia and the Design Advocacy Group).

We are pleased to present the above programs to you throughout this year. We are also please to announce that, through the Philadelphia Black History Collaborative, 12 public high school students with an interest in historic preservation and/or urban renewal will be chosen to participate in activities throughout the fall of 2022. Students will kick off their participation with a private walking tour through Society Hill and INHP. Throughout the fall students will work on a curriculum designed in partnership with the PBHC that explores the history and effects of urban renewal in Philadelphia.

Our sincere thanks to the Weitzman School of Design and the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this series possible.

Please watch this space as we develop this program. In the near future we will be sharing sign up links and specific dates for these programs.

Program Schedule:

We are pleased to announce the following programs for this series:

Human Toll: Accounting For Damage Wrought by Freeways in the Twin Cities
In this Zoom program, Dr. Greg Donofrio will share new research that centers the experiences of residents historically displaced and affected by the construction of freeways. This research is contributing to the work of activists and community organizations leading the charge to remove and redesign freeways throughout the Twin Cities. April 20 @ 5:30 PM on Zoom. Register here.

Are Cities Just Places? Rebuilding and Unbuilding Preservation
Join us for a presentation and Q&A session with Dr. Jenni Minner of Cornell University and the Just Places Lab. Dr. Minner will be exploring the ways in which the care of places and the built environment can work toward social justice and how preservation is being challenged and re-envisioned today. May 19 @ 5:30 PM on Zoom. Register here.

Preserving Neighborhoods: How Urban Policy and Community Strategy Shapes Baltimore and Brooklyn
Join us for a presentation and Q&A session with Dr. Aaron Passell of Barnard College. Historic preservation is often regarded as an elitist practice and assumed to lead to gentrification and rising property values. Preserving Neighborhoods complicates this story, exploring how community activists and local governments use historic preservation to influence neighborhood change. June 1 @ 5:30 PM on Zoom. Register here.

Society Hill Walking Tour
Join us for a walking tour of Society Hill and Independence National Historical Park that will focus on the contested interplay of planning and preservation in these post-World War II projects--particularly as they unevenly affected existing community members along lines of race and class--and the role that members of the Carpenters’ Company played in that redevelopment. September 17 @ 10 AM in Society Hill. Register here.

When Patrons of Center City Preservation Branch Out: Allies & Adversaries in Adaptive Reuse
In this presentation, Fallon Samuels Aidoo, PhD, Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development & Historic Preservation at Tulane University School of Architecture, will examine patronage underwriting diversity and inclusion in historic preservation, past and present. September 22 @ 5:30 PM on Zoom. Register here.

The Architectural History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Many AME church leaders supported property ownership as an avenue for respectability, appealing to those with economic and political influence despite historical limitations placed on Black Americans. This idea of Black respectability coupled with land ownership is significant in the property acquisition and eventual founding of the Bethel AME Church of Germantown and its connection with the Montier Family, a Black family whose ancestral ties to the first mayor of Philadelphia led to economic stability not afforded to most Black Americans. October 13 @ 5:30 PM on Zoom. Register here.

Changing the Face of the City Panel Discussion
Our "Changing the Face of the City" project concludes with a thought-provoking panel discussion of leaders in the built environment to explore how the historic dynamics of preservation and urban planning have affected current practices in real-estate development, housing, etc. December 7 @ 4 PM at The Center for Architecture and Design. Register here.