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作者

Ariel H. Bierbaum

来源

JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS,Vol.42,Issue3,P.450-473

语言

英文

关键字

作者单位

University of Maryland

摘要

This article situates school facilities management decisions—specifically school closures and building disposition—in the shrinking cities discourse as a first step toward better understanding and managing shrinkage as a multi-sectoral and multi-scalar phenomenon. I ask: how do school closure and disposition decisions respond to and perpetuate shrinkage? First, I present gaps and connections across prior empirical work on shrinkage and that of school closures. Second, I provide a case study analysis of Philadelphia’s school closures and disposition processes. I argue that school closure decisions are deeply tied to the discourse and dynamics of shrinkage in four ways: (1) as part of the feedback loop of catalysts and consequences that entrench shrinking cities, (2) by contributing to the material reality of aging physical infrastructure, (3) in the use of austerity logics and “right-sizing” approaches to managing a physical plant, and (4) by amplifying shrinkage’s disproportionate impacts on already marginalized communities of color. Examining formal closure processes and the lived experience of school closure in the context of shrinkage challenges planners to take seriously the multi-sector and multi-scalar nature of shrinkage, and raises questions about equitable access to public resources in shrinking cities.Additional informationAuthor informationAriel H. BierbaumAriel H. Bierbaum joined the faculty of the Urban Studies and Planning Program at the University of Maryland in 2017. She received her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research lies at the nexus of urban change and politics, planning practice, and public education.FundingThis research was supported by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation and the University of California Hellman Fellows Fund.AcknowledgmentsThe author thanks the editors, anonymous reviewers, and Aksel Olsen for thorough and thoughtful feedback, and Andy Seguin and Alisha Butler for research assistance.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.