Black citizen participation in urban development policies and creative placemaking practices in Wilmington, Delaware

A century of urban development policies in the United States demonstrates the importance of inclusive citizen participation mechanisms to ensure equitable outcomes for marginalized communities. In this paper, I examined Black citizen participation in Wilmington, Delaware’s urban redevelopment policies from the 1950s to the present. Using Critical Race Theory, this study used document analysis to compare state legislation, city ordinances, and community development plans and illuminated three stages of Black citizen participation mechanisms in Wilmington’s urban redevelopment history: Stage 1 (1951–1981) nonparticipation, Stage 2 (1994–1996) conditional participation, Stage 3 (2012–2022) tokenism and partnership. Black citizens’ exclusion in the earliest stage of urban redevelopment set the trajectory for future political exclusion. The findings illustrate how the dominance of White-corporate interests limits Black citizen participation. The paper includes recommendations for racially inclusive and equitable creative placemaking practices in future stages of urban development. This research contributes to understanding how the historical marginalization of Black communities in urban development policies and practices continues to shape Black citizen participation today.