A Political Ecology of Neglect

This book examines the roles that racism and sexism play towards the exclusion of black women from urban public space in Philadelphia. Using an interdisciplinary approach it explores how racial residential segregation and women’s fear of male sexual violence combine to regulate black women’s participation in the public sphere and deny them access to urban parks and open space. Further it approaches urban ecological change as a socio- political phenomenon that evinces and reproduces larger social inequalities. The study takes an exploratory approach to the topic and attempts to initiate a dialog on the topical and methodological development of an urban political ecology. Con­cepts of marginality environment hazards and resources are con­ceptualized so as to become more viable in an urban context.