Occasionally, when we host academic guests on campus, I’m asked to give the Camden tour. It’s a fun gig, a way to bridge the conversations happening about Camden with the wider academic world. It’s also a chance to reflect on what stories in Camden I think are important — what do you have to see when you come to the city? 

One thing I always try to do is take newcomers to Camden to Federal Street. Because it’s a success story. Many folks have intuitive reactions (both positive and negative) to new construction downtown. But there’s something special about Federal Street — it’s bustling, it’s authentic. Allison Steele captured it a few years ago when she wrote: 

Some Camden natives say Federal Street today is a version of what it was like in the 1950s. Then, it was a bustling Main Street America, where families shopped for clothing and furniture, ate at a diner, and watched Christmas parades. Factory jobs were plentiful, and the neighborhood was populated mostly by white factory workers, said City Council President Frank Moran, who grew up nearby.

“This was the shopping mecca of East Camden,” he said. “And it’s thriving now for the same reasons it was thriving then. People who are working here are shopping here, and many are also living here.”

I’ve been an outspoken critic of much of the development here in the city, and I think it’s important for people to be able to visualize what a thriving, grassroots business corridor looks like. 

While driving down Federal Street for the tour, the guest (it was a private convo, so I’m going to leave the comment anonymous) said something fascinating to me. She said (and I’m paraphrasing — I was driving so I couldn’t take notes), “this is what happens if we don’t do harm to communities. When people ask me what we need to do to bring communities back, I say stop doing harm and leave them alone.” 

I’ve been thinking about that almost nonstop since. Would it really be enough to stop harming communities and let them come back on their own? My initial instinct is no — that communities that have been disinvested from are at such a disadvantage for so many reasons that it takes resources to support a comeback. 

But that takes me to a second question — what would it really look like to stop harming communities such as Camden? It seems like, at a minimum, we would need to reconsider how we police these communities. We’d have to support affordable housing and fight segregation. We’d have to reconsider schools, infrastructure and more. We’d have to stop tearing up communities to support large-scale developments, or growth by Eds and Meds. The more I thought about it, the more “do no harm” felt like an even bigger task than redevelopment. 

It’s been over a week since the tour, and I’m still thinking about what a “do no harm” development strategy would look like, and if it would work. Would love to hear your thoughts. 

Tags: federal street