Revitalization In The 21st Century

On September 12, Penn IUR hosted a book talk for the latest release in The City in the 21st Century (C21) book series, Immigration and Metropolitan Revitalization in the United States (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017). Edited by Penn IUR Faculty Fellow Domenic Vitiello, Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning, School of Design and Thomas J. Sugrue, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History at New York University, with contributions by leading urban social historians, this volume documents immigrant-led metropolitan revitalization and explores recent history by looking complicated politics of revitalization and immigration, exploring how the diversity of responses to immigration plays out on the physical and political landscape of metropolitan areas.

In his talk, Vitiello outlined the relationships that exist between, and the effects of, immigration and metropolitan revitalization. He explained that this movement, while
He acknowledges that most cities have adopted the mindset that immigrants act as main boosters for the revitalization of cities. Using this information, cities are now developing strategies in order to attract and sometimes retain immigrants in their communities. This statement led to a discussion about the dangers of “using” immigrants for metropolitan revitalization, and whether or not these working class immigrant communities are reaping the benefits of the community economy that has been prospering from their contributions. Vitiello spoke to the difficulties of documenting the return in immigrant investment. He hinted on the non-economic ways immigrants are effecting change and the insignificant amount of current research on the range of strategies that cities have taken on immigrant communities and the policies that work