Empowerment planning in East St. Louis, Illinois A peoples' response to the deindustrialization blues

摘要

EPDC's success in rebuilding the economic, physical, and social infrastructure of the Emerson Park neighborhood suggests that it is, indeed, possible to revitalize even the poorest urban community. This case study suggests that such a turnaround requires a long-term commitment by local residents, area businessmen, non-profit agencies and government allies. The creation of a grassroots revitalization coalition, such as this, required EPDC to assist representatives of these organizations in overcoming the significant class, race, age, gender, religion and cultural barriers that Katznelson identified as the "city trenches" that make collective action difficult. EPDC sustained long-term cooperation among such groups by generating a steady stream of increasingly impressive development outcomes through which representatives from these organizations could gain a sense of private accomplishment and public credit. This broad-based coalition's ability to transform EPDC's revitalization plans into concrete development projects was due, in large part, to its effectiveness in applying political pressure on public and private investors, whose financial support was critical to the success of its larger development schemes. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign played a key role in helping EPDC and its allies secure needed resources by providing the detailed planning, design, and development assistance during the pre-development phases of its many projects. The ever-changing economic, political, and social dynamics of the East St. Louis community challenged project participants to consistently reflect upon the effectiveness of their practice. Project participants worked together to re-frame their collective approach to economic and community development at least four times during the project.