Misconstruction of Destruction: Urban Space and Equity
By: Lydia Kulina
Tags: Equity, Urbanism, Culture, Urban Planning, Cities

A grocery store in the Parkside neighborhood of West Philadelphia after 15 hours of looting. Photo: WPVI Philadelphia

“Riots are the language of the unheard” is a line that has been getting a lot of traction in recent months. The line comes from Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “The Other America” where the civil rights leader addressed the causal effects of structural racism. The line has recently been used by some commentators to rationalize the destruction of property and looting by a small number of opportunists. As an urbanist, I am concerned that this oft-shared explanation fails to examine the lingering effects on the “unheard” people of color in urban communities. After all, there are unintended consequences to even rightly motivated actions. Many neighborhoods that have been most affected by looting and property destruction, from Kensington in North Philadelphia to Oakland in California, have overwhelmingly been disenfranchised due to blatant racist policy-making as well as decades of disinvestment and economic changes following the post-industrial decline — this phenomenon has been well-documented by scholars like William Julius Wilson and Richard Rothstein. If the construction of space is ideological, reflective of what life should look like in place — we need to examine the beliefs latent in our response to the deconstruction of urban space.

There is a faulty assumption pervading many conversations that the urban landscape is equally reflexive-that Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive will bounce back at the same rate as a small, Puerto Rican neighborhood in North Philadelphia. This sheds light on our continuing misconceptions of equity in American cities. The urban landscape has never been equal — from urban renewal to gentrification, urban minority neighborhoods have long been characterized by their destruction. Politically-charged riots, even with just cause, find no exception. In the summer of 1964, a riot ensued on Columbia Avenue in North Philadelphia after allegations of police misconduct. For three days, Jewish-owned businesses were plummeted and destroyed along the busy commercial corridor. The businesses never recovered from the uprising — compounded by the pressure of suburbanization and flight, many businesses left, leaving a wake of vacancy and disinvestment. It would take years for the street, renamed Cecil B. Moore Avenue after the local activist, to economically recover from the protests. It would not be until decades later that a grocery store would return to the neighborhood — no doubt, a nod to the purse strings of encroaching Temple University students. Following, thirty years later, neighborhoods affected by the six-day riot following the acquittal of law enforcement in the beating of Rodney King, would not fare much better. The economy of South LA remains disproportionately behind many neighborhoods of the city. According to a 2017 study by UCLA Luskin researchers, unemployment and poverty have only increased.

What is lost when businesses and buildings are destroyed? Is it just a physical loss? Or does it viscerally affect the quality of Black and Latinx life in place? I cannot help but wonder if it is our privilege, whether race or class, that prevents us from seeing the trickle-down effects of the deconstruction of place in our cities — after all, we are more spatially segregated than ever before. Nike Manhattan’s 5th Avenue store will rebuild. Alexander McQueen in Los Angeles will replace windows — but the profile of many urban communities already experiencing systemic disinvestment will be slow to recover. Before we are quick to condone physical damage to urban neighborhoods (especially for those who do not live there), we must ask ourselves hard questions: Will the few neighborhood businesses return to meet the everyday needs of its citizens in segregated areas? Will grocery stores leave resulting in the continuation of urban food deserts? Will local business owners be fairly compensated for damage by insurance companies? Will the actions of a few lead to lower property values for residents? What are the long-term effects of the damage? Will the destruction lead to a locational seesaw that paves the wave for myopic development? In the end, the uncertainty of answers to these questions only confirm the reasons that protestors march.