The City Of Retro Edition Brotherly Love
In This Edition
CENTER CITY
4TH STREET MODERNIZATION IS KILLING US! 3... 7... 11... 15... 19... 23...
SPRUCE STREET
LOCUST STREET
SOUTH STREET
12th and Cuthbert Street - 1981
12th and Cuthbert Street - 2025
Reading Terminal - 2025
10th and Spruce Street - 1981
10th and Spruce Street - 2025
Southwest Corner of 11th and Spruce Street - 1981
Southwest Corner of 11th and Spruce Street - 2025
Northeast Corner of 13th and Locust Street - 1981
Northeast Corner of 13th and Locust Street - 2025
12th and Locust Street Lookinh North - 1981
12th and Locust Street Lookinh North - 2025
7th and South Street - 1981
Northeast Corner of 4th and South Street - 1981
Northeast Corner of 4th and South Street - 2025
4th and Monore Street - 1981
4th and Monore Street - 2025
Modernization Is Killing Us!
BY: Katie Leis
The modernization of cities is something that strips away the charm and character of a place. Philadelphia has been a prime example of the consequences of that. A city that had charm, colonial looking buildings, and lots of color has slowly morphed into a neutral- toned brick nightmare. While looking at old images of the City of Brotherly Love I had stumbled upon a collection to an online chat log. After looking through the images I had realized that these were areas that I walked by on a daily basis. Buildings and streets I pass on my way to work, or even the grocery store. All I could think was ‘Where did all the charm go?’
One of the blurbs had stood out to me; “The first photograph in the collection shows a man leaning on a building at the southwest corner of 12th and Cuthbert Streets. Not one building in the frame still stands today.” Having a constantly changing economy is something that gets reflected by how a city develops. Once unfunctional plots of land becoming booming businesses, while others falter due to how expensive everything has become. An influx of residents calls for once cutesy looking apartments to become ‘bulked up’ and expanded.
Urbanization is something that goes hand in hand with modernization. With more people comes a need for more efficient things. Yes, it’s historical and has lots of charm, but can it endure with how much use it will get now? As a result, this has left Center City, and South Street looking unrecognizable compared to the 1981 images.
Although Locust and Spruce Streets have seemed to survive the changes made to the city. This may have to do with the fact that there are less businesses in this area compared to South Street. When accommodating an influx of people, the majority of the modernization may have taken place
13th and Arch Street - 1981
inside these buildings versus the outside. Although based off of some of the present day images, it appears that there has been some urbanization due to some new buildings being built. The process of urbanization and modernization is something that is incredibly debatable. We need a city that meets the demand of the population. But when every city loses its charm and blends together, then you are stripping the uniqueness and excitement. There needs to be balance between transforming older parts of the city into something functional and keeping it true to its history.
When I had first enrolled in University as a Journalism major, I was dead set on going into the travel industry when I graduated. Although since then many things and interests have changed. Doing this project I wanted to channel my inner 18 year old self. During the course of this project it had turned into something so much more than going revising one of my interests.
