After decades of promises of improvements along the Delaware River In Philadelphia with little to show for it, recent "small but powerful" public improvements are remaking the city's waterfront into a "welcoming, fun place to hang out."
"The Nutter administration has just checked off two more items on its waterfront to-do list: FringeArts' seductive new culture hub at Race Street, which officially debuts its restaurant today, and the lush Washington Avenue Green, a reclaimed pier that opened as a park in late August," reports Inga Saffron. "Meanwhile, Spruce Street Harbor Park, a pop-up beer garden and boardwalk combo, proved so popular this summer that its rainbow-colored hammocks were worn to shreds and had to be replaced."
Saffron notes that the waterfront still has a long way to go to deliver larger projects, such as a proposed I-95 cap park between Downtown and Penn's Landing. Yet she writes, "give Nutter a hand for doing something no recent mayor has tried: sticking with the plan. Rather than concoct distracting side deals with developers, in the style of former Mayors Ed Rendell and John Street, Nutter has allowed planners and the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. to set the pace."
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research