Description
In Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. Kathryn Wilson charts the original history of this neighborhood. After 1945, a new generation of families started to shape Chinatown’s future. As plans for urban renewal―starting from a cross-the town expressway and commuter rail within the 1960s to a downtown baseball stadium in 2000―were proposed and developed, “Save Chinatown” activists rose up and fought for social justice.
Wilson chronicles the community’s efforts to save lots of and renew itself through urban planning, territorial claims, and culturally specific rebuilding. She shows how these efforts led to Chinatown’s growth and its continued ability to function a living community for subsequent waves of new immigration.