Connecting urban renewal with illegal dumping through urban art in the Philadelphia area

Keywords: urban art, Philadelphia, gentrification, environmental justice
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

Philadelphia (in Pennsylvania) and Camden (in New Jersey) are bordering cities with seemingly different socioenvironmental patterns. Camden has struggled to recover from deindustrialization and consequent urban blight and high unemployment levels. Philadelphia has experienced considerable urban renewal in recent years. Through literature review and field observations (2021-2024) linked to long walks, photography, and journaling, I examine issues of social and environmental injustices in these neighboring cities, focusing on narratives linked to the rise of two urban art projects with representations of black panthers. In Camden, a 2021 temporary installation displayed a vigilant oversized black panther made of car hoods and metal scraps, erected to bring attention to illegal dumping in a neighborhood and Camden at large. The sculpture is now placed in a public park near a school. In West Philadelphia, a mural painted in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder placed the Black Panthers’ emblem next to the words “Black Lives Matter!”. I propose that these black panthers bridge protest voices against socioenvironmental injustices: in Camden, because of illegal dumping and urban decay, and in Philadelphia, because of evolving (and at times unchecked) urban renewal with gentrification dimensions. I combine Critical Environmental Justice and Assemblage Theory perspectives to examine how, since their respective installations, these urban art projects have continued to call attention to evolving injustices and the indispensability of people of color and their environments in the Philadelphia area.