Restructuring the Philadelphia Region

"Restructuring the Philadelphia Region" offers one of the most comprehensive and careful investigations written to date about metropolitan inequalities in AmericaOCOs large urban regions. Moving beyond simplistic analyses of cities-versus-suburbs, the authors use a large and unique data set to discover the special patterns of opportunity in greater Philadelphia, a sprawling, complex metropolitan region consisting of more than 350 separate localities. With each community operating its own public services and competing to attract residents and businesses, the places people live offer them dramatically different opportunities.

The book vividly portrays the regionOCOs uneven developmentOCopaying particular attention to differences in housing, employment and educational opportunities in different communitiesOCoand describes the actors who are working to promote greater regional cooperation. Surprisingly, local government officials are not prominent among those actors. Instead, a rich network of OC third-sectorOCO actors, represented by nonprofit organizations, quasi-governmental authorities and voluntary associations, is shaping a new form of regionalism.