From the Outside In: Suburban Elites, Third-Sector Organizations, and the Reshaping of Philadelphia

Who makes the big decisions about Philadelphia's future? Who has the agency, economic clout and political capital to forge real change in the built environment and for those who live within? It turns out that the biggest players might not be who you would expect. While the planning process is influenced by a myriad of stakeholders, the non-profit sector has emerged as perhaps the most significant catalyst for change in recent decades. Hospitals, universities, cultural institutions and other major nonprofit institutions are driving both the economic and physical redevelopment of central Philadelphia. What are the implications of assigning substantial power over the city's future to nonprofit institutions particularly those with governing boards dominated by residents of the suburbs?