Derek Denman

This was publication week for my book, Fortress Power. It's about hostile built environments from the bastion fortress to contemporary cities and borders. It examines how the desire to fortify is thwarted by a turbulent world and the damage that defensive architecture does along the way.

"‘Defund,’ if it were properly talked about in the mainstream media, would be referred to as an evidence-based public safety program.”

MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy | The Standoff Philly tries to evict MOVE from its Osage Avenue headquarters. As neighbors evacuate the block, former Inquirer reporter Maida Odom and former NBC10 photojournalist Pete Kane stay as the siege begins.

40 years ago today, Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on Black residents of the city. It killed eleven people and started a fire that destroyed the block. The Logan Center at Temple and The Inquirer have put together an amazing podcast on the bombing of MOVE to mark the dark day in Philly history.

Not just Alcatraz: the notorious US prisons Trump is already reopening Amid outrage over ‘far-fetched’ plans to revive Alcatraz, Trump is pushing to expand Ice detention to other closed lockups marked by scandals

Federal prison & detention expansion is not just about Alcatraz but also FCI-Dublin (CA), North Lake (MI), Delaney Hall (NJ), and Leavenworth (KS), and family detention facilities in Texas.

Trump's Budget Cuts Reach the Front Lines of Philly's Fight to Reduce Shootings The Trump administration is yanking funding from several Philadelphia organizations, despite their role in slowing bloodshed.

Justice Department cuts are having devastating effects on community violence intervention programs and other alternatives to policing and incarceration in Philadelphia.

Building Ghosts

From @templeunivpress.bsky.social: "'Building ghosts' are the idiosyncratic remnants or imprints of demolished buildings, left behind on the sides of neighboring structures ... They can be ... unveiled and never re-covered in a neighborhood that has not seen new construction in a long time."