The struggle for revitalization and community change has been a fifty-plus year process in West Philadelphia neighborhoods including West Powelton, Mantua and Mill Creek. During that time, the area has experienced various redevelopment interventions ranging from: city-sponsored urban renewalprograms first emphasizing slum clearance and later rehabilitation to the grass-roots and community development corporation initiated house-by-house redevelopment and historic preservation efforts. Theseactivities have paralleled high rates of property abandonment as these neighborhoods and the city as a whole have lost population. Often, those left behind have the least mobility, that is, they are low income.Nonetheless, some sections of West Philadelphia, especially areas of University City and Powelton Village that are adjacent to the West Powelton neighborhood have experienced increased investment andpopulation growth due to institutional or private-sector investment. West Powelton residents haveorganized to plan for quality of life improvements in their area. However, the history of displacementthey have witnessed fuels fears that the changes they embrace will result in “pricing themselves out” oftheir community. These conditions provide an environment for exploring questions of gentrification and equitable development in this area of the city.