Philadelphia: Pathways of Urban Democracy

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

Philadelphia—the host for this year’s APSA conference—is a complex city with a storied history of democratic experimentation. Deeply poor and highly segregated, the city has endured extensive waves of municipal reform and economic restructuring over the years. It has also been the site of fierce struggles for local self-determination and for racial and economic justice and inclusion. This roundtable will explore Philadelphia’s democratic experience and what it illuminates about pathways for urban democracy more generally. The roundtable brings together five Philadelphia-based authors of recent (or forthcoming) books that either feature Philadelphia or otherwise analyze radical forms of democratic urban politics. The discussion will extend not only to conventional forms of urban governance but also to innovations in economic democracy, insurgent municipal reform, the democratization of urban spaces, the struggles of disenfranchised groups to access and sustain urban political power, and the city’s vibrant traditions of grassroots mobilization and economic cooperation. The participants include:

Chair: Jeffrey Carroll, Chestnut Hill College

Richardson Dilworth, Drexel University. Author of Reforming Philadelphia, 1682-2022 (Temple University Press, 2023).

Steve McGovern, Haverford College. Author of Mobilization Politics: Governing Philadelphia in the Early Twenty-First Century (University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming 2024)

Akira Drake Rodriguez, University of Pennsylvania. Author of Diverging Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta's Public Housing (University of Georgia Press, 2021)

Andrew Zitcer, Drexel University. Author of Practicing Cooperation: Mutual Aid Beyond Capitalism (University of Minnesota Press, 2021)

Craig Borowiak, Haverford College. Co-author of Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Mapping Transformation (University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming 2024)

Sub Unit

• Division 30: Urban Politics

Chair

• Jeffrey N. Carroll Chestnut Hill College

Presenters

• Richardson Dilworth Drexel University

• Stephen J. McGovern Haverford College

• Akira Drake Rodriguez PennDesign

• Craig Borowiak Haverford College

• Andrew Zitcer Drexel University