Editing Urban Renewal Era (section)

== Origins and Vision ==

Philadelphia's urban renewal efforts emerged from the intersection of postwar optimism, professional planning ideology, and genuine urban problems. By the mid-1940s, Philadelphia faced serious challenges: aging housing stock, declining industry, loss of middle-class residents to suburbs, and neighborhoods that appeared to be deteriorating. The [[1951 Reform Movement]] brought to power politicians who believed in professional planning and governmental intervention to solve urban problems. The federal Housing Act of 1949 provided funding for "slum clearance" and redevelopment. Philadelphia's planning establishment, led by Edmund Bacon at the City Planning Commission, developed ambitious visions for remaking the city.<ref name="weigley">{{cite book |last=Weigley |first=Russell F. |title=Philadelphia: A 300-Year History |year=1982 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York}}</ref>

Edmund Bacon, who served as executive director of the City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970, became the most influential figure in Philadelphia's urban renewal. His vision combined architectural modernism, historical preservation, and civic ambition. Bacon believed that good design could improve urban life, that planning could create rational order out of urban chaos, and that Philadelphia could be remade into a more functional and beautiful city. His ideas, whatever their limitations, gave Philadelphia's renewal efforts intellectual coherence. Bacon's 1974 book "Design of Cities" articulated planning principles developed through decades of Philadelphia practice and became influential internationally.<ref name="bacon"/>