Predation of The 'Creative Class'

The "Creative Class" and the Gentrifying City: Skateboarding in Philadelphia's Love Park Author(s): Ocean Howell Source: Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 59, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 32-42 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Inc. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40480609 Accessed: 20-01-2020 04:44 UTC


The story of Love Park Philadelphia is very well known in the world of skateboarding. Being internationally recognized in the culture as a hub, or even the mecca of east coast skateboarding. A park that by the mid-late 80s was a homeless camp and center of drug use in the center of Philadelphia. Skateboarders had moved in and co-existed with the people already residing and frequenting the park. By the mid 90's it had become a world famous and iconic location in the world of skateboarding. This article explores how skateboarders were originally written and viewed the same as the supposedly vagrant, criminal locals who resided in the park, but were re-branded and became pawns for the gentrification of the city of Philadelphia. Unfortunately it seems as though the author views gentrification as a positive, and a sort of progress. I would argue the opposite. The case with Love Park specifically saw the re-branding of skateboarders, using their newly fabricated positive image as a tool to gentrify and displace working class and homeless populations, while simultaneously invalidating, and rejecting the skateboard culture whenever it was not beneficial for the city. ie: shhutting down the iconic park.