Author Topic: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia  (Read 7019 times)

Metro Jacksonville

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Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« on: June 03, 2010, 08:29:34 AM »
Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia



Metro Jacksonville takes a visit to one of America's most recent urban revitalization success stories, the City of Brotherly Love: Center City Philadelphia.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-jun-elements-of-urbanism-philadelphia

David

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2010, 08:40:36 AM »
Everytime I visit Philly I drool over their immense inventory of historic buildings. When i'm in town I pick up a copy of citypaper (their folio) and read the I love you/I hate you section. It's always an entertaining read:

http://citypaper.net/lovehate/

Now I want Genos for lunch.

« Last Edit: June 03, 2010, 09:18:10 AM by David »

fsujax

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2010, 08:42:43 AM »
Philly looks really great! Very cool city.

tufsu1

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2010, 09:36:07 AM »
pretty darn cool...went to college in Philly and lived in Center City for 2 years...a few things

1. the condo building shown at Penn's Landing - I worked there as the Head Lifeguard...woo hoo!

2. The building across from 30th St. Station (in one of the shots) is the Old Post Office...now turned over to UPenn

3. The park pictures actually appear to be from Rittenhouse Square, not Washington Square...both are equally nice

4. Much of the wayfinding signage was implemented by the Center City District, an outcrop of the Central Phila. Development Corporation...this is one of the projects I worked on as an intern...way back in 1993

5. Schuylkill River Trail....this picture is of an area that was a pretty seedy city park (lots of weird night time activities) even through the 1990s

6. The CVS Pharmacy shown in one of the pics used to be a movie theater....Philly had several in-town theaters even in the early 1990s....I saw a local pre-screening of the movie Philadelphia there

7. Many of the streets shown with bike lanes used to be 2 lane one-way streets w/ parking

8. The shot with the streetcar tracks in the street....back in the early 1990s, SEPTA stopped operating most of these streetcar lines (put buses on the routes instead)....and then sold the PCC cars to places like San Fran....a few of the streetcars have now been brought back...most noticeably the 12th St line, which goes under/through the Convention Center.

One final thought that has meaning for Jax....I always found Center City Philly to be a great place to live, work, and hangout...but, up through the early 1990s there was a large homeless population, dirty streets, and rising crime....the turn around began in 1994 when the City opened the new Convention Center downtown and started to actively promote Philly as a tourist destination.

thelakelander

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2010, 09:45:11 AM »
Great insight, tufsu1.
"A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” - Muhammad Ali

Captain Zissou

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2010, 09:52:09 AM »
Flip-Flip-Flipadelphia!

Philly looks like a great city that has preserved its history and incorporated new construction very well.  On the show 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia', they show a shot of their train station, which looks a lot like the Prime Osborne.  It always makes me think of the potential the (Optimus) Prime has.  Philly has been on the list of cities I want to visit for a while now, and this photo tour has increased that desire.

heights unknown

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2010, 01:15:16 PM »
Nice pics of the "City of Brotherly Love." Absolutely stunning pics of the Union Terminal...ah, what could have been with our terminal! I could live in Philly in the summer; winters are out of the question!

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finehoe

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2010, 01:22:31 PM »
Could you see Jacksonville doing this?

Quote
Founded in 2002, the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus is an inclusive, regional organization that works with all communities collaboratively to promote gay and lesbian tourism to the Greater Philadelphia Region to capture a share of the $70 billion gay travel market. The initial group was motivated by a desire to promote Philadelphia and The Countryside as a top destination by gay and lesbian travelers. Open to anyone, gay or straight, the primary purpose of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus is to bring together a group of people who are willing to share resources to collaborate on the continuous improvement of Philadelphia as a gay-friendly destination.

http://www.gophila.com/pub/campaign/gay/

videojon

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2010, 02:06:10 PM »
I'll be in Philly later this month for the first time. Looking forward to it.

fieldafm

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2010, 03:40:10 PM »
Expanding further on the rebirth of City Center is the ongoing rebirth of the Northern Liberties neighborhood nearby.  They also resumed a once defunct trolley service connecting this neighborhood with City Center again a few years ago... which I believe is part of the SEPTA line(?).  The neighborhood is quite interesting to Jacksonville b/c it is eerily similar to Springfield in that it had a decaying historic housing stock and went through kind of a house/building razing faze and was littered with vacant lots(sound familiar?).  It is currently starting to thrive again with an emerging 'bright class'-centric populace.


Not a big Philly fan... definately some of the most obnoxious people on the Eastern Seaboard.  But the hoagie rolls sure are good  :)

urbaknight

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2010, 03:44:02 PM »
Yes! This exactly what I'm talking about! Philly! Yeah! I grew up less than an hour from here. This is one of only three or four cities that I compare Jax to directly. Why the hell can't Jax get its act together and be more like Philly! If nothing else, just to ease my homesickness. Maybe I'm being selfish but, Jax needs to make "me" feel at home already! Did you guys know thatit's actually illegal for a driver to run over a pedestrian?! pedestrians always have the right of way, always. There is a sense of culture, diversity and personal identity. We need to bring people from Philly, New York, Boston and even DC to conduct our urban studies and find solutions to help turn our country township atmosphere into a thriving world class city. And let's send those who run our city back to the swamp, the farm, the woods or wherever they come from.

stjr

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #11 on: June 03, 2010, 05:46:06 PM »
Philly, being in close proximity to New York and Washington, is one of the most overlooked great cities in America.  It's also one of the most "livable" BIG cities.

It has legendary culture (the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philadelphia Museum of Art [see Rocky I], the Rodin Museum, the Franklin Institute, the Penn. Academy of Fine Arts, etc., etc.), great sports (has to have the largest or equal to the largest concentration of stadiums/arenas in one place anywhere with all of them together), top notch higher education (on par with Boston for most colleges and universities in the area including Penn, Temple, Villanova, St. Josephs, LaSalle, Drexel, Swathmore, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and 4 or 5 medical schools), great food (some of the best eating East of the Mississippi), great history and preservation of it (need I say this), great parks (in addition to the aforementioned square and waterfront lands, how about Fairmount Park and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway?), great people (more ethnic neighborhoods than I could list), excellent public transit (no cars needed here), and more little unknown morsels of goodness than even many locals can tabulate.

Over the years, cleaning up its waterfront and its politics (Mr. Rizzo and company) and dealing with its heavy industrial age hangover (shipyards, oil refineries, etc.) appear to be to have been its greatest challenges.  Thanks to capitalizing on its assets (particularly its educational and cultural ones), it has become a high tech research and development center, particularly in medical related technologies.

By the way, I posted previously that Penn is engaged in a multibillion dollar urban renewal of the area from 30th Street Station to South Street to the eastern edges of its campus, incorporating the old main post office building across from 30th Street Station (and of similar period and size).  See Penn Connects: http://www.pennconnects.upenn.edu/index.php




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Key features of Penn Connects:

    * Establish new connections and gateways between the campus, Center City, and the neighboring communities.
    * Concentrate mixed-use, dense development at strategic locations by taking advantage of existing transportation hubs.
    * Create a new signature urban park that includes recreational and athletic amenities.
    * Provide new public gathering spaces and pathways to link the core campus with the newly acquired land to the east.
    * Accommodate significant development potential for future academic, research and cultural programs.
    * Establish a University presence along the Schuylkill River Corridor.

Urban Design Goals of Penn Connects:

    * The south side of Walnut Street is developed with active street level uses.
    * 31st Street is extended south of Walnut Street to engage the new development opportunities and provide a convenient north/south access route.
    * A significant new public green is created in front of the Palestra as a new center of campus life in this emerging precinct.
    * Locust Walk is extended east, through new urban and landscaped open spaces over the Schuylkill River, via a new pedestrian bridge.
    * The existing Highline railroad is utilized for its linear nature as an armature for organizing the open space structure of the land.
    * A pedestrian plaza is proposed between Franklin Field and the renovated Palestra complex to improve pedestrian connections over the SEPTA line, and to create a major gathering space for associated sports and recreation along an extension of Locust Walk.
    * The Penn Tower will be demolished, making way for a new urban open space for the Health System campus.

Growing Greener

The Penn Connects plan recommends a sustainable approach to development, with a particular focus on the opportunities available in the east expansion area.

    * Specific recommendations include:
    * a long-term plan for carbon reduction
    * high-performance buildings to reduce energy consumption
    * smart land use planning and increased open space
    * enhanced transportation
    * mitigating storm water issues
    * improving recycling practices


« Last Edit: June 03, 2010, 06:08:06 PM by stjr »
Hey!  Whatever happened to just plain ol' COMMON SENSE!!

finehoe

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2010, 05:50:05 PM »
The Old City District is one of the city's popular nightlife destinations for young adults, with a handful of lounges, dive bars, and trendy restaurants mostly along the three blocks from 3rd and Market streets to Front and Chestnut streets. The popular monthly First Friday event features "open houses" by many neighborhood art galleries. Landmark Theatres operates three "Ritz" movie theaters in the area, specializing in art films.

http://www.oldcitydistrict.org/


stjr

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2010, 06:19:14 PM »
The Old City District is one of the city's popular nightlife destinations for young adults, with a handful of lounges, dive bars, and trendy restaurants mostly along the three blocks from 3rd and Market streets to Front and Chestnut streets.

Jax really doesn't have to make it that hard.  Just copy great and successful concepts like this already "road tested".
Hey!  Whatever happened to just plain ol' COMMON SENSE!!

tufsu1

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Philadelphia
« Reply #14 on: June 04, 2010, 07:45:19 AM »
The building across from 30th St. Station (in one of the shots) is the Old Post Office...now turned over to UPenn

I learned yesterday that UPenn never took full control of that building....so now the old post office is going to the IRS....this from a friend who works in Philly for the Feds at GSA (aka the government slumlord).

http://thedp.com/article/new-irs-building-set-open-sept
« Last Edit: June 04, 2010, 07:47:33 AM by tufsu1 »