On April 7, 2026, Dr. Christina Rosan, 2025-2026 CHAT Fellow spoke about her current research to a packed house. With colleagues and students from GENUS—and even her mother visiting from the D.C. area—Dr. Rosan opened her talk with a striking image of Gritty and the title: “Slow Sustainability: ‘We’re Getting There’—Climate and Environmental Justice in Philadelphia (2006–2026).”
Sharing that she comes from a line of urban planners (her mother), Rosan noted that she has been fascinated from an early age by the ways cities handle complex problems. When she moved to Philadelphia from Boston, she immediately recognized that there was something unique about this city: strategies that might work in other metropolitan centers would not necessarily work here. Prompting laughter from the audience, she referenced “Bad things happen in Philadelphia”, Trump’s ominous (and erroneous) remark from the 2024 campaign, and HitchBOT’s infamous downfall in the city. The underlying point, however, was clear: Philadelphia is gritty—hence the beloved, haptic mascot.
Rosan pointed to the unavoidable tensions that emerge when a city of Philadelphia’s size faces urgent climate crises, diminishing federal funding, and the challenge of implementing scalable, feasible solutions.
“The city and its residents hang in the balance, continually morphing, often working to stay afloat and survive through reinvention.”
Drawing on SEPTA’s now-dated refrain, “We’re Getting There,” Rosan argues that urban planners and environmental scholars must look to the past to understand the present and imagine sustainable futures. As Philadelphia approaches its 250th anniversary, she highlighted how decisions from the 17th century, such as burying creeks and implementing a grid city planning design, alongside 21st-century legislation, have produced enduring divisions across social classes, often with devastating effects along racial and ethnic lines.
Ultimately, being “slow” in Philadelphia is not a weakness; it reflects careful research and a deep understanding of the communities being served. By adapting and collaborating, Philadelphia can get there.
For nearly 25 years, the Center for the Humanities at Temple has supported cross-disciplinary collaboration, cultivating a shared intellectual space for rigorous scholarship and collective inquiry. The CHAT Fellowship program is a prime example of this work, and the 2025–2026 cohort brought together faculty and advanced graduate students from GENUS, English, History, Sociology, and Media & Communication.