From the Outside In: Suburban Elites, Third-Sector Organizations, and the Reshaping of Philadelphia

In From the Outside In, Carolyn T. Adams addresses the role of suburban elites in setting development agendas for urban municipalities and their larger metropolitan regions. She shows how major nongovernmental, nonmarket institutions are taking responsibility for reshaping Philadelphia, led by suburban and state elites who sit on boards and recruit like-minded suburban colleagues to join them. In Philadelphia and other American cities, Third Sector organizations have built and expanded hospitals, universities, research centers, performing arts venues, museums, parks, and waterfronts, creating whole new districts that are expanding outward from the city’s historic downtown. The author draws on three decades of scholarship on Philadelphia and her personal experience in the city’s nonprofit world to argue that suburban elites have recognized the importance of the central city to their own future and have intervened to redevelop central city land and institutions. Suburban interests and state allies have channeled critical investments in downtown development and K–12 education. Adams contrasts those suburban priorities with transportation infrastructure and neighborhood redevelopment, two policy domains in which suburban elites display less strategic engagement. From the Outside In is a rich examination of the promise and difficulty of governance that is increasingly distinct from elected government and thus divorced from the usual means of democratic control within an urban municipality.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Regionalism and the Third Sector1. States Create Transportation Authorities to Cross Local Boundaries2. Third Sector Organizations are Re-Shaping Central Cities3. Ousiders Reshape the Educational Landscape4. Neighborhood Nonprofits Tap Outside Resources for Development5. Who Governs the Third Sector?Conclusion: Harnessing the Third Sector to Benefit the CityReferences Index

About the Author :
Carolyn T. Adams is Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University. She is the author of The Politics of Capital Investment and coauthor most recently of Restructuring the Philadelphia Region.

Review :
Adams distinguishes her work from that of others who study the role of the Third Sector organizations in the urban revitalization process. Other scholars argue that Third Sector organizations in older core cities are uniquely positioned to guide the redevelopment of urban neighborhoods since they are place-based anchor institutions that are integrated into the fabric of their communities. In contrast, Adams focuses on the influence of suburban interests in the decision-making processes of Third Sector organizations and their tendency to reconfigure the urban core in ways that promote the regionalization and globalization of the city. Although her analysis is based on a case study of Third Sector revitalization activities in Philadelphia, it has resonance for urban areas across the country. - Robert Mark Silverman (Social Service Review) Adams makes a compelling case that Third-Sector organizations play an important and increasing role in the governance and built environment of metropolitan regions. And her focus on the Philadelphia region makes the book indispensable for those interested in the area as well as an effective model for those studying nonprofits in other metropolitan regions throughout the country. - Zane Curtis-Olsen (H-Environment)