Territorial gains, value consolidation, and the making of a multi-sited struggle in Pittsburgh

Keywords: knowledge economy; growth coalitions; deindustrialization; eds and meds; nonprofits
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

The colossal midcentury growth and consolidation of American research universities and hospitals has become synonymous with the secured fates of deindustrialized cities in the era of entrepreneurial governance. Those who find themselves in the resurrected economies now dominated by the “knowledge” sector often find that their various fundamental struggles converge toward a single institution. Simultaneously bearing the relations of urban resident, employee, patient, and insurance customer, community organizers in Pittsburgh are increasingly demanding social change around exploitation by the tax-classified charitable organization, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Building on critical scholarship of nonprofit academic institutions’ increasing development in shaping urban landscapes, this article traces the mechanisms and processes by which UPMC has become Allegheny County’s largest landowner by value. Drawing on municipal assessment and sales records as well as archival news outlets, I examine territorial gains to demarcate the evolution of UPMC’s grip around Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania since its increased expansion in the early 1990s.