Philadelphia: Under the Skyscrapers

 

            While researching any part of Philadelphia, whether it be the music scene, real estate, or night life, there will always arise the question of comparison between Philadelphia and New York City. Apart from “the city of brotherly love”, another underground nickname for Philadelphia is New York’s next borough. New York Times published article titled “Philadelphia Story: The Next Borough” in which it attempts to make a distinction between the two cities from Philadelphia’s point of view.

            Many street artists, musicians, and dancers that have been interviewed for our project about understanding the urban arts scene in Philadelphia will most often than not mention New York City. Some artists have direct links with New York City and perform jointly within both places. Others have goals of uniting the Philadelphia urban arts scene and making it distinct from anything going on in New York City. As Philadelphia aims to make a unique identity for itself, this article is important in helping make that distinction.

            This article provides a review of Philadelphia’s real estate market, and how the affordable prices are attractive to young people as well as those being “priced out in Brooklyn”. It is effective for the article to include this section because many artists interested in continuing their work are struggling to make a living in major cities. With an affordable housing market, it should be easy for Philadelphia to provide a place for new artists so they can focus on what matters most to them: their art. In addition to the real estate market, the article mentions how many New Yorkers are bringing their businesses to Philadelphia. It also features some up and coming neighborhoods and shows an evolution of Philadelphia’s reputation over the last fifty years.

            Since the article is being published in the New York Times, it can be questionable if they do an accurate job of painting Philadelphia as a desirable place to live rather than New York. They do not slander New York, obviously, but they also don’t fail to mention Philadelphia’s crime rate. However, a positive image of Philadelphia is discussed in this article with interviews from those who switched from New York City to Philadelphia as their permanent place of residence.

            For a New York Times article it is pretty bland media wise. There is a photo from a local bar scene in Philadelphia, but besides that there are no other images or videos depicting Philadelphia as a desirable area. The article could be more effective at convincing its readers of this if it had included more media elements. In this way, a reader can distinguish Philadelphia as a separate entity with its own arts and business scene if there was more media elements because it’s better to ‘show’ than to ‘tell’.

            With this being said, it’s still an important article to help open the gap between New York City and Philadelphia. Many artists working in the urban arts scene don’t like to be compared to New York City since they are working hard to give Philadelphia its own reputation. Therefore anyone interested in learning more about what makes Philadelphia’s urban arts scene unique should take a look at this article so they keep the two cities separate in their minds.