This paper examines the progressive understanding of art advanced by Albert Barnes, and asks how the educational vision for his large collection of art might be preserved as it has now moves from its location in the idyllic suburban setting in Merion, PA to the hustle and bustle of central Philadelphia. I submit that the vision will be endangered…

This essay builds on and extends earlier research and writing that the authors have done, trying to understand how a commitment to local engagement, which is the term commonly used at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), becomes embedded in the core work of the institution. Their inquiries have been guided by social psychologist Kurt Lewin's…

District-led, dramatic change efforts in failing schools--including turnarounds and school closures--often face strong resistance from families and communities. Resistance may be based on years of tension and distrust between districts and communities, failed past school improvement efforts, or a lack of understanding about the chasm between a…

Urban life comes with diverse social, environmental, health care, and education problems. However, for many of the people seeking better economic, social, and education opportunities, the big city still holds a special allure. Jazz singer Frank Sinatra sings in "New York, New York" that he wants to "wake up in a city that never…

In this article, the author shares her career journey at Temple University, a major urban research university located in the heart of North Philadelphia. Temple is a place that believes in its mission of providing access to a quality education. After years of being in small or mid-sized isolated communities with black families accounting for less…

Recent studies have produced conflicting findings about the impacts of local nonresidential land uses on perceived incivilities. This study advances work in this area by developing a land-use perspective theoretically grounded in Brantingham and Brantingham's geometry of crime model in environmental criminology. That focus directs attention to…

This environmental education community resource guide is an illustration of the rich potentialities offered by the child's immediate environment. Although the guide focuses on a Philadelphia community, it is written in such a format and approach for adaptation by other teachers in other localities. The goal of the guide is to broaden the teacher's…

The purposes of the study reported in this document were to investigate the relationship between children's manifest anxiety and their perceptions of negative environmental stimuli, and to determine the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and race on both of these variables. The hypotheses tested concerned: (a) the degree of anxiety manifested…

While the earth's geography is well known, vast sections of the human landscape are considered to be unsurveyed by scientific explores; In this monograph the world of black America is studied. The boundaries and patterns of a black neighborhood in inner Philadelphia are charted, and its behavioral and environmental characteristics identified. Such…

It is easy to perceive Pennsylvania as a state in decline, but that would be a big mistake. While its population total has dropped from fourth largest in 1980 to fifth largest in 1987, Pennsylvania is still one of the 10 states in the nation that contain half of the country's residents. The state's two major metropolitan areas, Pittsburgh and…

This study can be used in a geographic research methods course to show how nearest-neighbor analysis and regression analysis can be used to study various aspects of land use. An analysis of the sand, gravel, and crushed stone industry in three urban areas of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Florida illustrates the locational problems faced by…

Urban school superintendents from Pennsylvania and New Jersey met to consider issues related to the improvement of urban secondary schools. Although the public is pessimistic about all urban public schools, it regards secondary schools with particular pessimism. There are 70 urban high schools in New Jersey and 81 in Pennsylvania. Superintendents…