Civic Commons © Studio Gang

Civic
Commons
Reimagining Our Cities’
Public Assets
Studio Gang
Philadelphia’s “Civic Commons”
What becomes possible when we

see cities’ publicly-owned
assets as a single network?
2 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

To spark a vibrant urban future,
start with what’s there.
Today’s American cities confront a complex range of critical issues. From climate
change to unemployment, housing to public safety, responding to these varied
challenges can easily seem beyond municipal reach.
But our cities already have the foundation in place for their twenty-first-century
renaissance, though it may be hiding in plain sight.
The public buildings, institutions, land, water bodies, and infrastructure inherited from
earlier generations are ready for us to see them anew—as a powerful network of civic
assets ready to be activated for the current needs, desires, and dreams of all the people
who share and shape them.
This booklet offers a new look at the community anchors we have and the vibrant hubs
our public spaces can become when we invest in collective urban life. Its vision focuses
on positive transformation at the architectural scale—where personal experience and
aspirations meet broad, long-range planning efforts—in order to spark the imagination
and spur us to work together toward realizing the abundant potential of what we hold in
common.
RIVER
REC CENTER
TRANSIT
STREETS
PARK
POLICE STATION
SCHOOL
LIBRARY
VACANT LAND CIVIC COMMONS 3

Executive Summary
07
Process
What’s Possible? 10
What’s in Your City? 11
What You Can Do 12
Strategies
The Commons 16
Libraries 18
Parks 20
Recreation Centers 22
Police Stations 24
Schools 26
Streets 28
Transit 30
Possibilities
Our Neighborhood of Focus 35
See 37
Hear 39
Combine 41
Library 42
Park 46
Recreation Center 50
Police Station 54
School 58
Street 62
Transit 70
Moving Forward 75
Techniques
Field Research 78
Due Diligence 80
Street Composition 82
Building Typologies 84
“Combine” Worksheet 86
Sketch 88
Selected Bibliography 92
Acknowledgments 96
CIVIC COMMONS 5
“Civic Commons” Public Asset Networks: Detail Views
Chicago
Los Angeles
New York City

Executive Summary
Civic assets like parks, libraries, and schools are more than physical spaces—they are
democratizing places and forces that foster inclusion and opportunity. But today the
key, unique contributions they bring to their cities are at risk due to decay, inattention,
and even abandonment that undermines their abilities as community anchors. Seeking
to build success in cities by reversing these trends of decline and disinvestment, in
2014 a group of national funders and local civic leaders launched Reimagining the
Civic Commons. With five pilot cities across the US, this three-year initiative intends to
make the first comprehensive demonstration of how a connected set of public assets
can gain new purpose and relevance that yields greater, more equitable prosperity for
communities. Importantly, the project’s approach is grounded in rethinking these assets
as a single network—a commons—and re-tuning them to better operate together toward
expanding their individual and collective capacities to do public good.
Much great work has already resulted from the Civic Commons initiative. This
current moment is ripe for exploring how a creative and collaborative architectural
approach can advance the project. Supported by our partners at the Knight and Kresge
Foundations, and the City of Philadelphia, our studio’s inquiry involved three major
components: 1) building a working understanding of the history and present condition
of a city neighborhood’s civic assets, both physical and programmatic; 2) learning
from the community about their neighborhood’s current strengths, challenges, and
changes they’d like to see; and 3) developing design ideas, conveyed through exciting
and accessible images, that describe how assets could collectively become more vibrant
hubs of city life in the near-term and make these ideas tools that people can use to
advocate for the kind of places they want to live in.
This booklet shares the process and potential of this approach to help communities
everywhere activate their civic commons.
First, its Process section provides a guide for undertaking this kind of work in any
American city. This section breaks down the process of identifying, studying, designing
with, and building engagement and support for investing in civic assets. Second, its
Strategies section presents our initial design ideas about how seven types of existing
assets—parks, libraries, police stations, schools, recreation centers, streets, and
transit—can be altered to better reveal their possibilities, connect for mutual benefit,
and engage the public. As its diagrams explain, all of these design ideas are intended
to be practical, flexible, cost-effective, and able to be adaptively sequenced and
implemented over time. Third, its Possibilities section envisions how these ideas can
be implemented in one particular neighborhood area. Responding directly to the people
and places of Southwest Philadelphia, its proposed visions demonstrate how relatively
simple design moves, when considered together, can support a more vibrant future for
all who make cities their home. Finally, its Techniques section provides tools and tactics
you can use to activate the civic commons in your city.
CIVIC COMMONS 7
Process
CIVIC COMMONS 9
What’s Possible?
People are the city. People make the city. And every city has a stake in the health and
safety of its populace, the quality of its education system, the state of its economy, the
impact of climate change, the need for infrastructure, and the engagement of its citizens
as active participants in their future. These shared concerns serve as a starting point
for envisioning cities that are responsive to their people and ever-changing conditions.
They provide a foundation for engaging with existing assets, places, and relationships to
imagine what is possible. They also act as touchstones that cities can return to as they
evaluate and continue to shape their civic commons over time.
Health Integrated Wellness

Holistic community health that addresses the physical, mental, and
social needs and aspirations of society
Security Public Safety

Relationships and environments that support productive encounters
between people and institutions
Education Open Opportunity

Multiple, accessible places and platforms for skill sharing,
knowledge transfer, and talent discovery
Economy Inclusive Growth

Economic development that makes socio-economic mobility
possible for everyone
Environment Sustainable Practices

Conscientious actions and behaviors that mutually support people,
water, land, and wildlife
Infrastructure Engaged Ownership

Partnerships formed to reclaim, invest in, manage, and repurpose
shared systems to benefit everyone
Society Social Solidarity

A sense of belonging and a commitment to cooperating for collective
well-being

What’s in Your City?
Every city has a combination of public buildings, institutions, land, water, and
infrastructure that affect everyone’s quality of life. These assets are collectively owned
and operated for community benefit. In many American cities, they were created and
constructed by different people at different points in time, and continue to be thought of
as performing separate and specialized roles in society.
Reconsidering these assets today as part of a single, interconnected civic commons

involves focusing on the relationships between them—building a kind of ecological
understanding of how they operate together within the context of a particular city.
Examining how selected assets relate to one another spatially, functionally, and
experientially makes it possible for you to identify how they do or do not currently work
together to affect city life. This understanding makes it possible for you to speculate
about how they might work together differently, both in the near future and longer term.
With these ideas in mind, you can start to strategize about how current local initiatives
can connect with existing assets to expand on their core capacities, combining in new
ways that generate exciting spaces, uses, and experiences which benefit people and
communities.
LIBRARIES PARKS REC CENTERS POLICE STATIONS
SCHOOLS STREETS TRANSIT
These civic assets represent only a selection of the wide

variety available in American cities. Other types include
cultural centers, plazas, fire stations, churches, post
offices, homeless shelters, and water bodies.
CIVIC COMMONS 11
What You Can Do
Envisioning how any city’s civic assets can become a vibrant commons involves
identifying value in what already exists, actively engaging community stakeholders and
other local experts, and creatively working through how each asset can be leveraged,
both individually and collectively.
Involving community leaders and residents in this process from the very beginning is
particularly key to successfully activating a commons. Their special knowledge and
recommendations produce stronger physical and programmatic ideas that people are
already invested in, and their partnerships are essential for making these ideas a reality.
You can reimagine your city’s assets as a powerful civic commons using three steps:
SEE
Start with what’s there
Research, observe, experience, and investigate
Develop an understanding of the physical place and its condition
HEAR
Listen and learn
Have conversations, meet organizations, engage institutions, and pay attention
Allow your thinking to be influenced by the knowledge and creativity of local people
COMBINE
Match what’s there with what’s possible
Combine meaningful ideas in exciting ways
Recognize what’s working elsewhere, and originate new solutions
Articulate specific, actionable ideas
Make investments that demonstrate capacity and leverage partnerships

When civic assets push their programming and resources
beyond their usual boundaries while simultaneously pulling
in the offerings of other institutions, they generate new
opportunities and energize their neighborhoods.
CIVIC COMMONS 13
Strategies
The Commons
Parks, libraries, police stations, and other publicly-owned assets have historically
operated independently and within their own systems, but when understood and
developed as a collective they can better serve the needs of neighborhoods and benefit
the city as a whole. Investing in these key shared spaces and linking them in new ways
to make them more relevant to their communities allows the commons to reach and
involve more people and to foster neighborhood identity and a sense of belonging. Over
time, this network helps a community grow stronger and more empowered to inclusively
and iteratively shape its own future.
Investing in assets in ways that reveal, connect, and engage can create positive radiating
effects on their surroundings. Providing physical and programmatic means through
which institutions can take overlapping ownership of the space in and between them
reinforces the strength of their network and the integrity of commons as a whole.
REVEAL
Make activities and opportunities that already exist evident and available,
illuminating possibilities and enhancing overall civic presence
CONNECT
Increase accessibility and synergy by concentrating and distributing programs
and services, combining them in new ways and inviting in new programs
ENGAGE
Attract and involve many different people, generating social capital and
empowering collective action
In the section that follows, we introduce seven types of civic assets from the perspective
of their roles in society and their influences on people and places. This includes a brief
discussion of their core functions, plus ideas for activating new programmatic and
physical possibilities.

Civic Commons “Heat Map”
Activated as a network, civic assets pulse with energy

that radiates outward into their neighborhoods, creating
new and exciting spaces, experiences, activities, and
social connectivity.
CIVIC COMMONS 17
Open Libraries to Opportunity
Help libraries transition from inward-oriented spaces of storage
and individual study to inviting places of growth and gathering
Public libraries have driven social mobility in the United States since Benjamin Franklin
helped to establish lending libraries for public use. Today, with more than 120,000
public libraries across the country and over 90 million visits per year, the library
system persists as a key means of access to an abundance of resources and public
programming that improves people’s lives. Libraries everywhere have begun to re-tool
and adapt their services to incorporate new and digital means of knowledge exchange.
To support this evolution we now need to make their buildings follow suit.
Designed to house books and provide

spaces in which to read them, the
Bronx Carnegie Library, New York City, 1905
physical presence of most public

libraries can be intimidating to potential
users, for whom their interiors feel
closed off and inaccessible. For
example, libraries have become a
critical resource for job training and
employment services. But while nearly
90 percent of Americans agree this is
an important role, most aren’t aware of
the breadth of opportunities their local
branch offers.
You can better connect people with the

diversity of resources and programming
inside libraries by opening them in a variety of ways to extend their physical reach,
create more flexible program space, and improve their civic presence.
With simple, smart interventions you can leverage libraries’ unique ability to provide
services that bring diverse groups of people together, aid the local workforce, benefit
the economy by stimulating visitor spending in the surrounding neighborhood, and
strengthen the community as a whole.

LONG
SHORT Extend the library with
Reconfigure interior a covered outdoor space
spaces to include meeting that becomes a new
areas, fabrication tools, neighborhood destination,
and technology rooms that customizable for a
will support workforce variety of programs and
adaptation by better events
serving job seekers and
small business owners
SHORT
Invite the public inside
with generous and
accessible entrances that
engage the street and
offer welcoming places to
MEDIUM gather
Make activities happening
on the inside more
visible from the outside
by opening the facade and
reorienting the front
door toward primary
streets
CIVIC COMMONS 19
Shape Parks into Experiences
Magnify the power of parks by making open spaces exciting, inviting,
and ecologically dynamic
Nearly 10 percent of city land in the US is park land, adding up to a total of almost two
million acres nationwide. This vast constellation of open space is valuable for far more
than the picturesque, pastoral qualities that parks were prized for in the 19th century.
For many city dwellers, urban parks are

their main opportunity to experience
nature, and today it is widely understood
that engaging, functioning parks can
Hermann Park, Houston, 1932
make people healthier, happier, and

more productive. Parks have been found
to improve health, lower crime, and
reduce ADHD symptoms in children.
They also perform free “ecosystem
services” that benefit cities, such as
reducing strain on aging storm water
systems, providing critical habitat for
wildlife, and improving air quality.
Beyond these community-wide physical and mental health benefits, parks are a
fundamental driver of economic development. In cities like Chicago, parks add an
average of 1.5 percent in value to properties within a two-block radius. Small and even
undeveloped parks together add 3.5 percent. That same Chicago park system brings in
$1.4 billion—nearly 17 percent—of the city’s total annual tourism revenue.
Whether you’re addressing an underdeveloped park or even a vacant lot, there are many
strategic physical and programmatic investments you can make that allow urban open
spaces to live up to their full potential.

Where’s the park?
Let’s play hide and seek!

SHORT
Create more diverse
landscapes, welcoming LONG
areas to gather, and Cut and fill to add
collaborative programming texture and topography
to attract more people that multiplies
and wildlife experiences and manages
storm water
MEDIUM
Make edges beautiful and
bold with art, furniture,
and greenery that
continues into the street
to highlight parks’
presence and extend their
inviting reach
CIVIC COMMONS 21
Move Recreation Centers
Toward Wellness
Expand recreation centers’ programming and presence to support
the whole person and engage a broader audience
Since the turn of the 20th century, recreation centers, or “field houses,” have served
neighborhood needs not met by green space alone. When President Theodore Roosevelt
visited the first US park with a field house in 1907, he declared it “the most notable
achievement in any American city.” At their inception these buildings offered people
a combination of year-round social, health, education, and recreation services. Their
success as a public asset is reflected in the enduring sentiment in many cities that every
“good” park must have a recreation center.
Despite this celebrated original role,

today’s rec centers provide a narrower
set of offerings, even as demand for
Logan Park Field House,
a spectrum of wellness services and

amenities has grown in response to
Minneapolis, 1913
increasing awareness of the necessity of

a holistic approach to health.
We can activate rec centers’ broader

potential in the 21st century and make
them buzzing wellness hot spots
by supplementing their recreation
offerings with other community health opportunities, such as on-site medical care and
information, nutrition classes and workshops, stress-relieving activities, and social
events and gathering spaces where people can build friendships and combat isolation.
You can transform your rec center by making a variety of simple alterations. Through
opening facades and interior walls, and renovating underutilized spaces so they can
be rented by wellness tenants, you can remove physical barriers to participation and
supervision, help park users and staff move more easily between inside and outside,
and facilitate fruitful partnerships and leasing agreements with complementary
service providers. This last possibility is especially exciting, because giving rec centers
rentable space can bring in specialized health services, generate income, develop
diverse programming that attracts a broader market, and keep programming dynamic
by allowing municipalities (via contract terms) to find new tenants as community
preferences change over time.

LONG
Make room for holistic
healthcare by adding new,
leasable space
MEDIUM
Remove barriers
to participation
and supervision by
combining closed,
single-purpose
rooms into larger
open spaces
MOBILE
HEALTH
SERVICE
MEDIUM
Let in light and
SHORT air by connecting
Activate entrances and indoor areas with
sidewalks by making space outdoor gathering
for mobile services and and activity spaces
amenities like health
trucks, food trucks, and
library bookmobiles
CIVIC COMMONS 23
Center Police Stations
on Community
Transform urban stations into social hubs where officers and
neighborhood residents can interact in positive ways
Since 17th-century watchmen checked in at small “watch boxes” while patroling on

foot, American policing has undergone continuous change, with police stations evolving
from providing sleeping quarters for officers to including office space, file storage, and
interrogation rooms. In the 20th century stations expanded into large-scale structures
and police districts sprawled outward as patrolling by car replaced the traditional
walking beat.
Today the vast dimensions of urban

space work to isolate police and their
stations from the communities they
serve. Commuting long distances to
NYPD 69th Precinct, Canarsie, ca 1970
large stations surrounded by parking

lots, officers patrol their multi-
neighborhood districts from their squad
cars. Opportunities for meaningful
daily engagement with their districts’
residents, as well as their fellow
officers, are far too rare. Police stations
have become fortress-like structures,
buffered from the public by parked
squad cars and often serving as little
more than a jail. These buildings are no
longer seen as part of the community or
in service of it.
By looking past these connotations and reimagining police stations as civic assets
waiting to become centers of their community, you can help transform them from
hermetic fortresses into neighborhood hubs where many types of productive exchanges
between police, residents, and city officials take place. Through identifying common
needs and aspirations of officers and community members, and then making shared
spaces where they can eat, work, play, and learn together, you can encourage beneficial
relationships to grow—supporting familiarity and fellowship, building the reciprocal trust
needed for public safety, and reinforcing the programming and social connectivity of the
civic commons as a whole.

SHORT
Insert ATM and offer free
Wifi in lobby to bring MEDIUM
people inside Expand second level
spaces with a green
canopy for outdoor
gathering, dining,
gardening, and other
shared activities
R V I C E
S E
R V I C E
S E
SHORT LONG
Use art, furniture, and Open up lower level with
paint at the entrance lively retail such as a
apron to welcome visitors barber shop, bike shop,
and invite socializing on and outdoor cafe
this new “front porch”
CIVIC COMMONS 25
Cultivate Schools into
Innovation Campuses
Encourage the growth of healthy citizens and scientists by
developing schools and school grounds into green laboratories
With an estimated 97,000 elementary and secondary schools across the US, serving
nearly 50 million students, schools have an outsized influence on the education, health,
and welfare of youth, families, and neighborhoods. Many city schools are grappling
with a number of major challenges, including population shifts affecting enrollment;
declining budgets; increasing debt and pension obligations; and providing social
services beyond their core educational mission. Meanwhile, they continue to prepare
students to participate in society and a global economy that requires fundamental skills
and rewards exceptional ones. The latter is especially true for math and science, in
which US students are catching up but still lag behind their international counterparts.
Further, many of these students are affected by the health crisis that leaves one-third
of children in the US overweight or obese, negatively impacting their mental health,
economic future, and cognitive functions necessary for academic achievement.
Urban schools’ physical plant presents

us with many opportunities to
holistically address these challenges.
Most schools were designed as
Hamilton Disston Elementary,
indoor environments, surrounded by

parking lots and other paved spaces
not usable for learning. But when we
reconsider the potential of all surfaces
Philadelphia, 1923
as an extension of the classroom,

we can make underused spaces into
laboratories for experiential learning
that better connect students and the
broader community with educational
and wellness opportunities.
Converting schools into integrated science and agriculture campuses—where students

help grow healthy food and learn biological, culinary, and healthy living skills—is
one exciting direction you can invest in. By strategically planting school grounds and
adjacent vacant land with gardens and other species you can add natural beauty to
neighborhoods and give students the chance to observe, nurture, and experiment with
natural systems every day. You can also partner with land management organizations to
train and employ local residents to help maintain these new green spaces. As they grow,
you’ll experience how they enhance the learning environment, reduce stress, improve
the morale of students and teachers, and inspire neighborhood pride and investment.

SHORT
MEDIUM Adapt adjacent vacant
Convert roof surfaces to land for agriculture and
greenhouse and garden phenological science
classrooms that can also experiments by planting
be used for play, dining, crops, orchards, and
and relaxation—and reduce “sentinel” species that
the urban heat island demonstrate the impact of
effect climate change
LONG
As green spaces extend
into the surrounding SHORT
neighborhood, coll- Outfit kitchens and
aborate with partner cafeterias to incorporate
organizations to manage local and grown-on-site
land as public open produce in lunches and
space for recreation and lunch table socializing
community gardening and
gathering
CIVIC COMMONS 27
Make Streets into Places
Enliven neighborhood streets with activities and civic presence that
inspire use, ownership, and community cohesion
Streets are the fabric that connect a city and its people. This ubiquitous urban system
defines neighborhoods, enables movement, and knits together the civic realm. In
physical terms, streets, sidewalks, and other rights-of-way constitute a significant
portion of city land, ranging from just under 30 percent in New York City to over 40
percent in cities like Portland, Houston, and Washington, D.C. Annually, the US spends
approximately $155 billion per year in federal, state, and local funds on building and
maintaining our street and highway networks. But despite this significant share of land
mass and investment, many streets fail to live up to their potential beyond supporting
vehicular movement.
When we make streets work as

places, not simply thoroughfares, they
Chinatown Street, San Francisco, 1955
become civic assets that contribute

to the well-being and prosperity of
cities. They can improve public health
through neighborhood walkability
that is associated with decreasing
risks for obesity and chronic disease.
They influence economic growth by
transforming dull commercial corridors
into vibrant destinations that encourage
local spending. They make cities more
resilient when designed to manage
storm water, reduce the urban heat
island effect, and fill in gaps in the open
space network. Their character and
quality can inspire socializing and new relationships, express neighborhood identity and
pride of place, and support the social networks that make collective community action
possible.
Everyone in a city is a pedestrian every day. Starting with this fundamental perspective,
you can make many different simple interventions that amplify the functionality and
fulfill the promise inherent in streets’ civic fabric.

LONG
Add a dynamic roof canopy
to provide shade and
shelter, encouraging an
active street life
SHORT
Develop and support
events held along or
on streets, linked
with storefront shops,
to stimulate commerce
and provide more
opportunities for
neighbors to socialize
MEDIUM SHORT
Alter the design and Plant trees and other
surface of the street vegetation to manage
to promote storm water storm water,create shade,
management and a mix of and cultivate resiliency
transit options
CIVIC COMMONS 29
Make Transit Stops a Place to Go
Turn transit hubs into neighborhood destinations that leverage a
citywide system for local benefit
Public transportation systems offer huge benefits to cities, from affordable access to
jobs and reducing road congestion, to bolstering property values and making it easy for
residents to access the services they need. In the US, over 35 million people board public
transportation every weekday. This act reduces driving by 4400 miles per household
per year and saves Americans more than $10,000 per year on auto maintenance and
operating costs, the largest household expenditure after housing. This positive economic
impact extends to cities as a whole, as every 1 dollar invested in public transportation
yields 4 dollars in returns. This includes the increase generated in property values,
which perform an average of 42 percent better when located near public transit with
high-frequency service.
Despite this quantifiable positive impact,

many communities do not sufficiently
benefit from public transit in their
cities. With disproportionate access,
gaps in routes, and infrastructure
investments that divide or even destroy
neighborhoods, the consequences of
Union Station, Denver, 1906
poor transit decisions can damage

the socio-economic health of
neighborhoods.
You can capitalize on the great

opportunity latent in transit by
positioning specific investments, like
multi-modal stations, not simply as
nodes in a system, but as civic anchors
for neighborhoods. By rethinking
concepts like “transit-oriented
development,” which looks to maximize transit access within mixed-use development,
you can instead move toward “community-oriented development,” which makes transit
stations themselves serve individual communities as an inextricable part of the civic
commons.

SHORT
Add new public transit
stops on existing lines
LONG
Expand existing public
transit routes to a new
inter-modal transit hub
MEDIUM
Build infrastructure for
new connections between
local, national, and
regional transit
CIVIC COMMONS 31
Possibilities
CIVIC COMMONS 33
This inventory map highlights
Southwest Philadelphia’s parks,
libraries, recreation centers,
schools, police and fire stations,
churches, vacant land, and other
civic assets.

Our Neighborhood of Focus
The City of Philadelphia aspires to make its neighborhoods “more livable, healthy, and
economically viable.”† To explore how investing in the civic commons can realize these
aims, at the suggestion of our partners at the Knight and Kresge Foundations and the
City, our team engaged the area of Southwest Philadelphia to assess its current public
assets; learn from local people about the area’s strengths, challenges, and their visions
for its future; and develop specific ideas about how its assets and people can work
together to create a more vital and vibrant neighborhood. These insights are grounded
in the comprehensive planning process that the City of Philadelphia concluded in June
of 2011 with the City Wide Vision and in May of 2015 with the Southwest District Plan.
Southwest Philadelphia is a post-industrial district south of University City and west

of South Philadelphia. While well-served by transit and bounded by the Philadelphia
International Airport at its most southern point, the major rail lines and sprawling
industrial riverfront forming its eastern edge effectively isolate it from the Center
City District and other thriving neighborhoods. Significant transit infrastructure also
cuts across the district, presenting barriers to mobility, visual connectivity, and clear
neighborhood boundaries and identity.
The neighborhoods of Elmwood and Paschall form the residential heart of the area.
Defined by connected row houses and their conjoined front porches, these historically
working-class neighborhoods are also characterized by large swaths of land left behind
by vacated industry—most notably, a 30-acre site formerly occupied by a General
Electric factory. Parks, breezeways, and waterways are found throughout the district,
though some residents do not see these natural spaces as assets, due to their lack
of programming, identity, and accessibility. The area is served by a strong number
of public institutions that offer people innovative and relevant services despite their
aging facilities and limited resources. That said, their imposing architecture and
poorly located entrances are two of several physical obstacles preventing them from
connecting with potential audiences.
Recent immigrants and long-time Philadelphians make Southwest Philadelphia their

home and give their community a unique identity and entrepreneurial spirit. Though
challenged by low property values, high unemployment, low graduation rates, and
high obesity, the neighborhood will thrive when strategic investments in places and
programming leverage its strengths and support local needs and dreams.
The following section envisions what is possible in Southwest Philadelphia by applying

the process and strategies outlined in the previous sections to activate its civic
commons.
†
Philadelphia2035, City of Philadelphia
CIVIC COMMONS 35
12:00pm
12:00am
6:00pm
6:00am
MARCH
Job Search Program
Narcotics Anonymous
21
m
GED Classes
FREE Fitness - Walking club
Job Search Program
22
t
Star Harbor Easter Program
GED Classes Job Search Program
Rotary Club of Eastwick
Red Cross Blood Drive Mentoring Workshops
23
w
Narcotics Anonymous
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
Love Center Clinic Free Cooking Classes – “A Taste of Africa”
24
t
Jazz Vespers Job Search Program
SW Leadership Charter
Good Friday Prayer Service
25
Red Cross Blood Drive
f
Job Search Program
26
s
Jesus Saves: A Community Easter Celebration
27
s
The Great African Concert
Voter Registration FREE Fitness - Walking club
28
m
Narcotics Anonymous
GED Classes Job Search Program
Job Search Program
29
t
GED Classes
Business Workshop Job Search Program
Perspectives on Black Slavery
30
w
Narcotics Anonymous Mentoring Workshops
Join Arbor Day Foundation
Love Center Clinic
Job Search Program
31
Town Hall Meeting
t
Clear Network Shutdown Free Cooking Classes – “A Taste of Africa”
APRIL
Job Search Program
Candidates Night
1
f
2 Testing of the Community Alert Siren
s
Get Your Rear In Gear

s
3
Job Search Program

GED Classes
Bingo and Community Open House
m
4
Narcotics Anonymous FREE Fitness - Walking club
Job Search Program

5
t
Job Search Program

GED Classes
w
Rotary Club of Eastwick Mentoring Workshops

6
Narcotics Anonymous
Job Search Program
Love Center Clinic Free Cooking Classes – “A Taste of Africa”
7
t
Understanding Children Discussion Series

Job Search Program
Credit Scores – What they really are!
8
f
Application for Beech Scholarships

CityLights Network Monthly Meeting
Walk Against Hunger
9
s
Sayre Health Fair

Law Enforcement Career Fair
Rotary Club Annual Bowling Fundraiser

10
s
GED Classes
11
m
Job Search Program
Job Search Program

12
GED Classes
t
African American Actresses-Mt. Moriah Cemetery

Citizen Planning Institute Job Search Program
13
w
Grant apps. For Nature Conservation

Narcotics Anonymous Mentoring Workshops
Love Center Clinic
14
t
Job Search Program

Free Cooking Classes – “A Taste of Africa”
15
f
Job Search Program

City Lights Monthly
16
s
Public Symposium on Cancer

17
s
5K Run/Walk to benefit Child Guidance

Job Search Program
GED Classes
18
m

36 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS Job Search Program
19
t
Honoring Philly Refugees & Immigrants

GED Classes
2
w
SEE: Program Analysis
An inventory of the public programs offered by Southwest Philadelphia’s civic assets
over a four-week period, examined as a color-coded timeline, reveals gaps in current
offerings. This information informs new, community-specific programming ideas and
suggests how particular civic assets can work together to offer them.
A detail view of the library’s individual programming

timeline (above) and all assets’ programming collated into
a single timeline (at left).
CIVIC COMMONS 37
“Even if a park is close to where people
live, without a recreation center, people
are less likely to use it.”
Kathryn Ott Lovell “Southwest Philadelphia has great history of

Commissioner of Parks & Recreation
City of Philadelphia
diversity and resourcefulness. This is one of
the best assets of the neighborhood.”
Walter Licht
Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History
University of Pennsylvania
“Simply cleaning and greening vacant lots

improves the health and well-being of the
people in the surrounding area.”
Glen J. Abrams
Director of Sustainable Communities
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
“Philadelphia is already investing in green

infrastructure to help mitigate some climate impacts,
and additional strategies should be coordinated with
leadership from the impacted communities.”
Donna Henry Siobhan Reardon Nancy Goldenberg Walter Licht
Executive Director President and Director Vice President, Planning & Development; Professor of History Dir
Southwest Community Development Christine
Free Library Philadelphia Knapp Executive Director University of Pennsylvania Pe
Corporation Sustainability D i r e Center
c t o rCity District and Foundation
Mike
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MarkDiBerardinis
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Harrell Donna
Donna
Patricia Henry
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Smith Siobhan
Siobhan
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Julianne Reardon
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Schrader Ortega Nancy
Nancy Goldenberg
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Howard Goldenberg
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Deputy
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Community Mayor
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Organizer Executive
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Executive
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Center City
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andFoundation
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Brian
Julie
Brian
Brian Abernathy
Wertheimer
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Christine Knapp
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Kathryn
Patricia
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HEAR: Local Perspectives
“Southwest Philadelphia is a very diverse

and resourceful community with a strong
entrepreneurial spirit.”
Mike DiBerardinis
Donna Henry Donna
Mike
Siobhan Henry
DiBerardinis
Reardon Siobhan
Nancy
Donna Reardon
Goldenberg
Henry Nancy Goldenberg
Siobhan
WalterReardon
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Deputy Mayor
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arrell Southwest
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of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Corporation Corporation Center City Corporation
District and Foundation Center City District and Foundation
Community Organizer
Southwest CDC Philadelphia
“The key is thinking of civic assets as a

campus and hives of activity that make the
neighborhood strong on many levels, from health
to economic success.”
Siobhan Reardon
President and Director
Free Library Philadelphia
Brian
Mark Abernathy
Walter Licht
Harrell Mike
Glen J. DiBerardinis
Mark Harrell
Abrams
Brian
Patricia
Abernathy
Smith Donna
Patricia
Julianne
Mark Henry
SmithOrtega
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Julianne
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Patricia
Managing
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Senior
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City ofofPhiladelphia
University
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Fund Southwest Community
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Southwest Development
Fund
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CDC Society Free Library
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Philadelphia
Horticultural
Water
Reinvestment Fund Society
Department
Corporation
Andrew
Howard
Siobhan Frishkoff
Neukrug
Julie Wertheimer
Reardon Julie
Brian
Andrew
Nancy Wertheimer
Abernathy
Christine
Frishkoff
Knapp
Goldenberg Christine
Mark
Julie Knapp
Harrell
Wertheimer
Kathryn
Walter Ott Lovell
Licht Kathryn
Glen Ott
Patricia
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Karen
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Chief Executive
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Nancy Goldenberg
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Walter
NancyLicht
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Center City District and Foundation Center City District and Foundation
CIVIC COMMONS 39
ARTS & CULTURE
Public-private partnership
rehabilitates historic theater
and activates street
RECREATION CENTER
Open, flexible spaces support POLICE STATION
expanded community wellness Welcoming “front porch” with
retail and community amenities
provides opportunities for
officers and residents to
come together
STREETS
Creative interventions
at roof- and ground-level
activate neighborhood
events, identity, and
social connection
VACANT LAND
Vacant lots “cleaned and
greened” into parks,
community gardens, and
supportive habitat
LIBRARY
Opened structure highlights
and expands forms of exchange
and exciting community events
COMBINE: Civic Commons
SCHOOL
School grounds become green
laboratories for hands-on learning
in life sciences and agriculture, also
serving neighborhoods for recreation,
gardening, and gathering
PARKS
Added topography and
texture create dynamic
ecology and outdoor
OPEN SPACE
experiences
Breezeway spaces adapted
as an “eco-block” to manage
heavy rainfall while beautifying
the neighborhood and
connecting fragmented open
space system
TRANSIT
New inter-modal hub connects
regional and local train and bus
routes at a station built to be a
neighborhood destination
CIVIC COMMONS 41
WORK SHOP
Expanded library
program on vacant
land supports local
workforce
Open Libraries STREET VIEWS
to Opportunity Building opened up

to the street to help
The Paschalville branch of the Philadelphia Public
programs reach
Library system provides a diverse set of services, from people
lending books for reading and ties for job interviews,
to teaching languages and hosting cultural events. It
is one of over 1600 Carnegie libraries in the US and a
well-made, historic building, but it is closed off from
the street, inaccessible, and oriented away from the
main thoroughfare of the neighborhood. With simple
interventions it can leverage its unique ability to
provide services that bring people together, aid the
local workforce, and strengthen the community as a
whole.
Who Leads?
The Free Library of Philadelphia
Who Joins?
Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (Job Training),
TRIBUNE HUB
Pennsylvania Department of Education (Programming),
and Rising Sons (Young Adult Workforce Development)
Dynamic gathering
space for performance
Who Invests?
and exchange
Knight Foundation, Finanta, Next Fab, Start Up PHL

PROGRAM NOOKS
Reconfigured spaces
for tech, tools, and
education
OUTDOOR THEATER
Flexible open air
venue for local
events
OPEN DOOR
Many accessible
and welcoming
entrances
CIVIC COMMONS 43
With its expanded, welcoming spaces, the
Paschalville branch library supports lively
activity and exchange on Woodland Avenue.

CIVIC COMMONS 45
Shape Parks
into Experiences
Hobson Park and its adjacent breezeways are empty HABITAT
swaths of flat grass. These open spaces have enormous DIVERSIFICATION
ecological and social potential, but in their existing form
Supportive environments
lack intrigue, program, and identity.
for people, plants,
Who Leads?
and wildlife
Philadelphia Parks and Recreation
Who Joins?
Office of Sustainability (programs), Philadelphia Water
Department (maintenance), and the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society (education)
Who Invests?
Delaware River Watershed Initiative, Urban Wildlife
Refuge Partnership, Local Initiative Support Corporation

STAY AND PLAY
Park investment
spurs increase in
property value
FILL HILL
Regraded soil
creates exciting
landscape feature
DEFINED EDGES
Articulated
perimeter invites
people in and
creates rooms for
activities
OPEN SPACE
Breezeways adapted
as an “eco-block” to
manage heavy rainfall
CIVIC COMMONS 47
The new landscape of Hobson Park provides amazing
spaces to play, socialize, relax, and enjoy
nature in the city.
CIVIC COMMONS 49
FLUID OPEN PLAN
Connected indoor and
outdoor rooms improve
ease of supervision
and use
COMMON GROUND
Gardens for cultivating
food and relationships
HEALTH PROVIDER
Wellness services
co-located with recreation
MOBILE CARE
Designated area for
pop-up wellness
services
HEALTHY LIVING ROOM
Nutrition and health
education in a welcoming,
comfortable environment

STAIR HILL
Outdoor exercise
environment
OPEN GYM
Indoor exercise areas
connected with outdoor
gathering spaces
Move Recreation Centers

Toward Wellness
The Francis Myers Recreation Center is a sprawling complex made
up of conjoined buildings. The facility is functional but closed off from
the street and restricted by confined, difficult-to-access spaces that
serve a limited range of uses. With a design that allows for more
diverse programming, the center can reach more people and have a
greater impact on overall community health.
Who Leads?
Philadelphia Parks and Recreation
Who Joins?
Department of Public Health (education), the Perelman School of
Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (programming), Rite Aid
(health services)
Who Invests?
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Kresge Foundation,
The Reinvestment Fund, retail health service providers
CIVIC COMMONS 51
A multipurpose Healthy Living Room, a variety
of wellness vendors and amenities, a bright new
changing area, and an “open gym” floor plan
invites the neighborhood to join the fun at the
Francis Myers Wellness Center.
CIVIC COMMONS 53
DATA HUB
Free internet access and a
place to connect
CIVIC KITCHEN
Shared industrial kitchen
space for use by police,
fire department, and
community
FRONT PORCH
New platform for
public life

NEIGHBOR SPACE
Social and recreational
areas open to the
neighborhood
MAIN STREET STORES

Center Police Stations
A place to shop and
see your neighbors on Community
PLAIN SIGHT The 12th District police and fire station is more inviting
than most police stations due to its accessible Main Street
Glass facade makes
location, colorful mural, and well-used lobby ATM. These
interior activities positive conditions can be built on to expand the station’s
transparent productive role in its community.
Who Leads?
Philadelphia Police and Fire Departments
Who Joins?
Department of Commerce (business development), local
business association (retail), Philadelphia Parks and
Recreation (neighbor spaces)
Who Invests?
Ford Foundation, Philadelphia Police Foundation, various
private retailers
CIVIC COMMONS 55
With new places to shop, socialize, work, and
relax, the 12th District station encourages its
community to engage with the police and fire
departments in everyday, positive ways.

CIVIC COMMONS 57
RAIN UP-CYCLING
Collection systems to
capture and use rain
water for agriculture and
maintenance
OUTDOOR CLASSROOMS
Roof spaces used for
experiential learning
EDU-KITCHEN
A learning kitchen to
help kids eat well and
feel good
LEARNING HABITAT
Outdoor living lab designed
for studying climate change

GREENHOUSE
Cultivate Schools
Existing buildings reused
for community gardening
into Innovation
and agriculture
Campuses
CULINARY INCUBATOR John Bartram High School and Tilden Middle School
Industrial kitchen and are surrounded by parking lots. This underutilized
greenhouse where local exterior space has the potential to become an
extension of the classroom that serves students, their
gardeners and chefs
families, and the neighborhood. Hosting integrated
develop their skills and science and agricultural programs can address
businesses prevalent health issues, teach valuable skills, and
provide healthy food. The natural beauty of these
programs can elevate the identity of the schools,
reduce stress, and inspire neighborhood pride and
investment.
Who Leads?
Philadelphia Public Schools
Who Joins?
Vetri Foundation (program), Pennovation Works
(incubator), Bartram’s Garden and the US Phenological
Association (education)
Who Invests?
The Food Trust, William Penn Foundation, and
The Reinvestment Fund
TEST SHEDS
Spaces to teach biological
and agricultural skills
GROUNDS FOR PLAY

A variety of athletic
fields for students and
community recreation
CIVIC COMMONS 59
Greenhouses, culinary spaces, and
fields planted for gardening and
research welcome the community to
engage with the school, providing
healthy food, skills training,
and education to students, their
families, and neighbors.
CIVIC COMMONS 61
STREET STYLE
Visually and physically
distinct streetscape
features a unique paving
pattern and pedestrian
lighting
CANOPY
A dynamic roof makes a
neighborhood street a
unique destination
MIXED TRANSIT
Coordinated streetcar,
bus, vehicle, and bike
infrastructure

Make Streets
into Places
Woodland Avenue’s wide sidewalks have the potential
to increase neighborhood walkability, manage
storm water, encourage local spending, and inspire
socializing. By developing the streetscape, canopy, and
programming, this commercial corridor can become a
NIGHT LIGHTS
more exciting and productive place to visit. Overhead light
Who Leads?
installation creates
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority a safe, inviting
Who Joins?
nighttime experience
Philadelphia Water Department (water infrastructure),
Pennsylvania Horticulture Society (programs and
support), Open Streets PHL (events)
Who Invests?
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority,
Impact 100 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources
CLEAN AND GREEN

Trees, bioswales,
and benches make
streets more habitable
CIVIC COMMONS 63
A greener and brighter Woodland Avenue
becomes a walkable destination to
gather, explore, and shop.
CIVIC COMMONS 65
At night, beneath twinkling
lights strung between the
porches of row houses, neighbors
share food and fellowship at a
community dinner.

CIVIC COMMONS 67
Sheltered from the weather, this
row house street now bustles as a
commercial arcade with a distinct
identity.

CIVIC COMMONS 69
Make Transit Stops
a Place to Go
Southwest Philadelphia’s local, regional, and
international transit networks currently do not
connect in purposeful ways. A multimodal transit hub
in Elmwood can connect these distinct networks to
support one another and provide better service. A new
station can not only make these connections, but serve
as an important community hub.
Who Leads?
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
Who Joins?
Amtrak (infrastructure), Philadelphia International
Airport (support), Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation
Alliance for Clean Transportation (program)
Who Invests?
US Department of Transportation Congestion
Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program,
Sunoco, Transportation Alternatives Program INTERMODAL STATION
Regional and local train
and bus routes connect

CIVIC TRAIL
Land adjacent to train lines
converted to trails that
connect to breezeways
and park system
RAPID TRANSFER
Altered street car routes
intersect civic node
COME AND GO
Embankments, platforms,
and station grounds
function as parks and
public open space
CIVIC COMMONS 71
The new multimodal transportation
hub serves as a community center,
retail location, and public space.
CIVIC COMMONS 73
MOVING FORWARD
People are the city. People make the city. We can create a better
future when we recognize the power of our relationships with each
other and together take ownership of the material we share—our
civic commons—to build stronger communities.
The work presented here belongs to everyone. It offers an approach,

illustrated in a specific place, that you can use with your community
as you decide how to collectively shape and invest in your city’s
future.
CIVIC COMMONS 75
Techniques
CIVIC COMMONS 77
Field Research
Develop a series of questions and a format that helps focus site
visits and encourage participants to document what they see and
hear.
Date MEETING # Notes / Comments / Sketches :
Time -
Contact Name, Title, Organization
Location Address
Organizational Mission Contact Background

Mission Statement and any major projects of note Experience :
Current Work :
Education :
Important Questions
What?
Why?
Where?
How?
Who should we connect with?
...
Notes / Comments / Sketches :

CIVIC COMMONS 79
Due Diligence
Study the current and previous plans made for the area to
understand the context and build from previous work in your city.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia2035 2035 PlanPlan
Comprehensive
2035 Lower Southwest 2035 Lower Southwest
Philadelphia 2035 Existing Conditions Report District at a Glance
Philadelphia2035: Lower Southwest District Plan
Existing Conditions, Issues, and Opportunities—September 2015
ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES
Philadelphia2035 Citywide Vision Goal: Fulfill city obligations to meet ambitious federal standards.
SUMMARY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS

The Lower Southwest District shares with other districts the same, citywide obligations to improve the
city’s and region’s air and water quality, yet the Lower Southwest also has a very unique set of long-
standing, local environmental conditions that require further understanding and action. The Lower South-
west is: largely developed on former tidal marshland; home to both the Philadelphia International Airport
and Heinz National Wildlife Refuge; home to petrochemical, waste treatment, pipeline, landfill, and recy-
cling facilities; traversed by high-volume Interstate 95, and; visited by numerous diesel-emitting trucks,
CITYWIDE
trains, and, ships. The district also has a much lower amount of tree cover than the citywide average.
Over recent decades, air and water quality conditions associated with industry, transportation, and land
use patterns have generally improved due to citizen activism, regulatory enforcement, public investment,
and more efficient, quieter, and cleaner processes and vehicles. However, residents and businesses of
some parts of the Lower Southwest District have for years been impacted by air quality issues and flood-
VISION
ing, and these impacts could become more pronounced with long-term implementation of announced
master plans and with projected changes in climate and sea level.
KEY ISSUES
The following are important environmental issues facing the Lower Southwest District:
 The Lower Southwest has significant mobile and stationary sources of air contamination. Changes in
PHILADELPHIA land use and transportation patterns and practices can help reduce risks from air pollution, but certain
2 35
types of increased industrial activity could also increase risks caused by air pollution.
 Water-related challenges are created by the district’s low elevation, high water table, tidal waterways,
downstream location within creek and river watersheds, and high percentage of impervious surface.
Properties and infrastructure in some areas are susceptible to flooding.
 The Lower Southwest’s small amount of tree cover provides few benefits for air quality, stormwater
management, or summer cooling.
MAJOR OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities to improve environmental outcomes in the Lower Southwest District include:
 Ongoing monitoring, compliance and partnership efforts, and management and technological inno-
a
vations can continue to reduce air contamination in the Lower Southwest.
Philadelphia City Planning Commission Page 1
• June 2011 • September 2015 • In Progress

• City-wide vision + 18 District • Areas of focus for 2035 District • Demographics Overview
Plans Plan
Transit
Transit & Trails
and Trails
Phildelphia Trail Phildelphia Trail Pedestrian and Bicycle
SEPTA Cycle-Transit Plan Masterplan Update Masterplan Plan
PHILADELPHIA
PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia PEDESTRIAN AND
BICYCLE PLAN
SEPTA Cycle-Transit Plan
A Strategic Approach
April 2015
TRAIL PLAN TRAIL
2015 UPDATE
MASTER PLAN
SUMMER 2013
PHILADELPHIA
2 35
PHILADELPHIA
2 35 PHILADELPHIA CITY PLANNING COMMISSION • APRIL 2012

1
• April 2015 • 2015 • Summer 2013 • April 2012

• Bikes at Transit • Proposed Projects and Priority • Complete, expand, and connect • Promotes walking and biking
• Bikes to Transit Level watershed parks and trails in the as part of intermodel urban
• Bikes on Transit City and the region. transportation system
• Create a citywide trails master
plan to coordinate the planning
and construction of trail systems
within Philadelphia.
• Create a trail corridor
network that connects parks,
neighborhoods, and trails
citywide.

Southwest CDC Initiatives
Southwest CDC Initiatives
Development Strategy for the
     
Woodland Avenue Revitalization Project   
   
Philadelphia, PA
           
                      
                  
           
         
          
                                      
     
                                   
                     
         
                         
 
                 
                            
         
                              
              
                       
                    
                         
             
                       
                         
        
                          
           
     
                      
       
        
                       
          
                                  
           
                            
           
                         
 
              
         
      
             
                     
                  
                
            
                            
 
        
               
            
    
Prepared for:          
Southwest          
Community Development Corporation  
Prepared by:        
Urban Partners          
       
July 2002            
 
With support from:
The William Penn Foundation Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Wayne Presbyterian Church    
Philadelphia Department of Commerce First Union Bank Sun Oil Company            
         

    
     
   

                    
          
         
 
                                          
               
Land
Use Use & Zoning
                                       
       
                
       
         
Land and Zoning

                            
       
                              
                  
                              
                   
    
       
                    
                           
          
      
     
                            
     
          
              
    

             
                
               
     
                                     
         
           
                                              
         
               
                    
                
     
                     
                     
         
                                
                   

                             
                      

                        
                            
Zoning Manual Industrial Land Strategy Land Bank Strategy

                 
              
             
                      
                            
            
                   
                       
                         
              
                     
       
              
      
          
10/30/14
           
                 
                 
       
        
    
          
    
ZONING   

       
     
ADMINISTRATIVE
   
           
   
MANUAL
THE CITY of PHILADELPHIA
Rev. August 22, 2012
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i
• August 2012 • September 2010 • 2015
Water
Water & Ecology
and Ecology
Cobbs Watershed Combined Sewer Overflow Lower Schuylkill Climate-Ready
Management Plan Plan Greenworks Philadelphia Masterplan Philadelphia
THE
Cobbs Creek Integrated LOWER
Watershed Management Plan
October 2004 Green City SCHUYLKILL
MASTER PLAN GROWING STRONGER:
Clean Waters EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TO W A R D A
G R E E N WO R K S C L I M AT E - R E A DY
The City of Philadelphia’s Program for Combined Sewer Overflow Control
A Long Term Control Plan Update
PHILADELPHIA
P H I L A D E L P H I A
Submitted by the Philadelphia Water Department
September 1, 2009
Prepared by:
Philadelphia Water Department

Darby-Cobbs Watershed Partnership
Report by the Mayor’s Office of
Sustainability and ICF International
NOVEMBER 2015
Mayor Michael A. Nutter

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
Tookany/Tacony- Wissahickon Pennypack Poquessing
Frankford Watershed Watershed Watershed
Darby-Cobbs Watershed
ENERGYENVIRONMENTEQUITYECONOMYENGAGEMENT
Watershed Management Plan 1 of 5
• June 2004 • September 2009 • 2009 • May 2013 • November 2015

• Restore and protect the • A vision for how Philadelphia can
beneficial and designated uses and should seize the moment,
of the waters of the Cobbs Creek building upon the assets left
basin. to us by earlier Philadelphians
and creating a better future
for ourselves, our children and
generations still to come.”
REVITALIZING
URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS
THROUGH GREEN
STORMWATER 2015 PROGRESS REPORT
INFRASTRUCTURE
Design Competition Packet
CIVIC COMMONS 81
I n f I l l . c d e s I g n c . o rg
Competition Packet
Street Composition
Look closely at the diversity and distribution of programs that make
up your key commercial corridors. Street composition mappings are
effective at revealing parcel spacing, retail character, block rhythm,
and building pattern variation.

CIVIC COMMONS 83
Building Typologies
Illustrate how zoning and building type shape the neighborhood and
community. Look for unique patterns in the building fabric, street
characteristics, or landscape plantings.
Streetview Axon
Urban Form Zoning Overlay

-
Size
-
-
-
Colloquialisms
-
Permitted Building Type
-
Uses Permitted as of right
-
Uses requiring special exception approval
-
Dimensional Standards Characteristics
Minimum lot width
Minimum lot area
-
-
-
Minimum open area -
Minimum front setback -
Minimum side yard width -
Minimum rear yard depth -
Max height -

Late 19th-Century Row House Examples
TYPE 03 TYPE 04
Streetview Mid to Late 19th Century Rowhouses Axon Streetview Mid to Late 19th Century Rowhouses Axon
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE SMALL MEDIUM LARGE
Urban Form Zoning Overlay Urban Form Zoning Overlay

RM-1, Residential Multi-family-1 RM-1, Residential Multi-family-1
Quick Reference Guide Quick Reference Guide
Size
Higher Density Residential Districts Size
Higher Density Residential Districts
ONING DISTRICT TYPICAL PLAN/BUILDING FORM TYPICAL BUILDING Small
DIMENSIONAL STANDARDS ZONING DISTRICT TYPICAL PLAN/BUILDING FORM TYPICAL BUILDING Small
DIMENSIONAL STANDARDS
Front: Allowable setback
2 Min.
floors
Lot Width 16 ft. Front: Allowable setback
2 Min.
floors
Lot Width 16 ft.
RM-1 *A lot containing Min. Lot
Multi-Family:
Side
range determined by
setback of abutting lots
1,000 - Area
Min. Lot 1,600 sf1,440 sq. ft.
Intermediate 30%;
RM-1 *A lot containing Min. Lot
Multi-Family:
Side
range determined by
setback of abutting lots
1,000 - Area
Min. Lot 1,600 sf1,440 sq. ft.
Intermediate 30%;
at least 1920 Width 16’ Yard 12’ at least 1920 Width 16’ Yard 12’
Corner Lot 20%, Corner Lot 20%,
Colloquialisms Colloquialisms
sq. ft. may be Min. Open Area sq. ft. may be Min. Open Area
ng Type: Detached; Semi- divided into lots Contextual See Note (2) Permitted Building Type: Detached; Semi- divided into lots Contextual See Note (2)
ched; Multiple Buildings on a Lot with a minimum 14-701-2 Detached; Attached; Multiple Buildings on a Lot with a minimum 14-701-2
Min. Front Based on setback of Min. Front Based on setback of
City House Plan City House Plan
lot size of 960 Lot lot size of 960 Lot
sq. ft. if: abutting lots sq. ft. if: abutting lots
as of right: Single-Family; Two- Setback Uses permitted as of right: Single-Family; Two- Setback
Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached
Line Line
Workingman’s House
Single or Two-Fam,
Workingman’s HouseSingle or Two-Fam,
Attached
Attached
1. At least 75% 1. At least 75%
Attached
Attached
Detached
Detached
Family*; Passive Recreation; Family of adjacent lots Family*; Multi-Family*; Passive Recreation; Family of adjacent lots
Min. Side Yard Detached or Semi- Min. Side Yard Detached or Semi-
gious Assembly; Safety Services; are 1000 sq. ft. Day Care; Religious Assembly; Safety Services; are 1000 sq. ft.
; Community Garden; Market or or less. Width** Detached: 5 ft. per Transit Station; Community Garden; Market or or less. Width** Detached: 5 ft. per
pported Farm 2. Each lot is
used for one
See table Permitted Building Type yard
Multi-Fam, Detached:
Community-Supported Farm 2. Each lot is
used for one
See table Permitted Building Type yard
Multi-Fam, Detached:
single family single family
pecial exception approval: Rear 5 ft. per side yard Uses requiring special exception approval: Rear 5 ft. per side yard
Detatched; Semi-Detached; Attached;Group
Multiple Buildings Detached; Semi-Detached; Attached; Multiple Buildings
or two family Rear or two family Rear
**For permitted nonresidential uses **For permitted nonresidential uses
Personal Care Home; Single-Room attached home.
(see table) (see table) or 8 ft. Corner Lot Living; Personal Care Home; Single-Room attached home.
(see table) (see table) or 8 ft. Corner Lot
Min. Side Yard Width: 12 ft. per side yard. Min. Side Yard Width: 12 ft. per side yard.
ive Recreation; Group Day Care; Residence; Active Recreation; Group Day Care;
cilities; Fraternal Organization;
3. Each lot
created meets Single or Two- on lot Multi-Fam Semi-
Educational Facilities; Fraternal Organization;
Detached: 12 ft.
3. Each lot
created meets Single or Two- on lot Multi-Fam Semi-
Detached: 12 ft.
Family: Min. Rear Yard Area: 144 sq. ft. Family: Min. Rear Yard Area: 144 sq. ft.
ries and Cultural Exhibits; Utilities Min. Lot Width
See Note (9) 14-701-2
Min. Rear Yard 9 ft. See Note (9) Hospital; Libraries and Cultural Exhibits; Utilities Min. Lot Width
See Note (9) 14-701-2
Min. Rear Yard 9 ft. See Note (9)
Side Yard 5’ Side Yard 5’
basic; Wireless Service Facility
Uses Permitted as of right and Services, basic; Wireless Service Facility
Uses Permitted as of right
for RM-1. for RM-1.
Depth 14-701-2 Depth 14-701-2
Max. Height 38 ft. Max. Height 38 ft.
RM-2 Single-Family;
Min. Lot Width
Two-Family;
50 ft.
Multi-Family; Passive RM-2 Single-Family;
Min. Lot Width
Two-Family;
50 ft.
Multi-Family; Passive
ng Type: Detached; Semi-
ched; Multiple Buildings on a Lot
Dimensional Standards Quick Reference Guide
Min. Lot Area
Recreation;
Min. Open Area
Services; Transit
15,000 sq. ft.
Family N/A
Day Care; Religious Assembly; Safety
Station;
Permitted Building Type: Detached; Semi-
CommunityDetached;
Garden; Attached; Market or on a Lot
Multiple Buildings
Dimensional Standards
Min. Lot Area
Recreation;
Min. Open Area
Services; Transit
15,000 sq. ft.
Family N/A
Day Care; Religious Assembly; Safety
Station; Community Garden; Market or
Commercial Districts
Min. Front Scaled to building Min. Front Scaled to building
Minimum lot width FAR = 70 16’ Community-Supported Farm 16’ Community-Supported Farm
Rear 3/4 H
Minimum lot width FAR
Rear 3/4 H
height, measured = 70 height, measured
as of right: Single-Family; Two- Setback Uses permitted as of right: Single-Family; Two- Setback
from St. Centerline from St. Centerline
amily; Passive Recreation; Family H
Family; Multi-Family; Passive Recreation; Family H
gious Assembly; Safety Services; Minimum lot area 1,440 sf Day Care; Religious Assembly; Safety Services; Minimum lot area 1,440 sf
Known as: Workingman’s house as: Streetcar townGarden; house as: Urban mansion, Known as: Workingman’s house as: Streetcar town house
Min. Side Yard Min. Side Yard
; Community Garden; Market or Min UsesWidth requiringheight
Scaled to building
Known
special exception Transit approval
Station; Community Market or Known Min UsesWidth requiringheight Known
special
Scaled to building
exception approval Known a
pported Farm MinimumWid .open
Lo
th 50 t area Intermediate : 30% Community-Supported Farm Minimum Wid .openLo
th 50 t area Intermediate : 30%
pecial exception approval:
S
Size: 1,000-1,600 sq. Group
Min. Rear Yard
ft. Depth
Scaled to building
Home; Uses
Care2,200-2,500 requiring special exception approval: townhouse
Str Min. Rear Yard Scaled to building townhous
Group Living;sq. ft.Care Home; Single-Room Size: 1,000-1,600 sq. Groupft. Depth
Living; Personal Single-Room Living; Personal Care2,200-2,500 sq. ft.
Home; Single-Room
tre ’
height Size:
’
height Size:
e
Corner : 20% Corner : 20%
et Side Yard 3/4 H et Side Yard 3/4 H
Ce Ce
Personal Care Home; Single-Room nte Personal nte
Residence; Active Recreation; Group Day Care; Residence; Active Recreation; Group Day Care;
rlin rlin
tive Recreation; Group Day Care; e Residence; Active Recreation; Group Day Care; e
cilities; Fraternal Organization; Minimum front setback
Front 3/4 H on two
Based on setback of abutting lots floors
Educational
Max. FAR Facilities;
on 3 floors Educational Facilities; Fraternal Organization; Minimum
70% of Lot areaFraternal Organization; Hospital;
Size: front 3,000-6,000 Front 3/4 H sq. ft.
setback on two
Based on setback of abutting lots floors
Educational
Max. FAR Facilities;
on 3 floors
70% of Lot areaFraternal Organization; Hospital;
Size: 3,0
ries and Cultural Exhibits; Utilities Hospital; Libraries and Cultural Exhibits; Utilities
Minimum side yard width Single, Two-family : 5’ per yard ZONING DISTRICT Minimum
on 3-4side floorsyard width
TYPICAL Single, Two-family : FORM
PLAN/BUILDING 5’ per yard on 3-4 flo
Location: Center City, Libraries
Southand Cultural Exhibits; Utilities
Location: and Services,
and Services, basic; Wireless Service Facility
North Philadelphia, Location: Center City, Southand TYPICAL
Libraries Cultural Location: BUILDING
Exhibits; Utilities
Northand Services,
Philadelphia, DIMENS
Multi-fam, detached : 5’ side yard, 8’ corner lot Min. Lot Width 50 ft.
basic; Wireless Service Facility Multi-fam, detached : 5’ side yard, 8’ corner lot Min. Lot Width 50 ft.
RM-3 Philadelphia, North Philadelphia,
Min. Lot Area 10,000 sq. South
ft. Philadelphia, RM-3 Location: Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, North Philadelphia,
Min. Lot Area 10,000 sq. South
ft. Philadelphia, Location
Multi-fam, semi-detached : 12’ Multi-fam, semi-detached : 12’
West Philadelphia, Manayunk West Philadelphia
CMX-1*
North Broad Street, South West Philadelphia, Manayunk West Philadelphia North Br
ng Type: Detached; Semi- Permitted Building Type: Detached; Semi-
Characteristics Characteristics Max. Occu
Min. Open Area 50% Min. Open Area 50%
tiple Buildings on a Lot Minimum rear yard depth 9’ Min. Front
Detached; Multiple Buildings on a Lot Minimum rear yard depth 9’ Min. Front
MaxBroad
height Street BroadArea
Str
20 ft. 20 ft.
as of right: Single-Family; Two- Max height 38’ Defining Characteristics: Brick with Stone
Setback
Front, Entry vestibule,
Defining
Single or Two-Fam
Shedaskitchen,
Characteristics:
Uses permitted of right: Single-Family; Two- 38’ Defining Characteristics: Brick with Stone
Setback
Front, Entry vestibule,
Defining
Single or Two-Fam
Shed kitchen,
Characteristics:
amily; Passive Recreation; Family Min. Side Yard Family; Multi-Family; Passive Recreation; Family Min. Side Yard
FAR =
150
Shallow Width closets, Indoor
Corner Lot: plumbing (early
Detached Int: 8 ft. per
19th C.Assembly;
none), FAR =
150
Shallow Width closets, Indoor
Corner Lot: plumbing (early 19th C. none),
Detached Int: 8 ft. per
gious Assembly; Safety Services;
; Community Garden; Market or
Rear 20’
Entry vestibule, shed kitchen,
Central heating 6 ft.; Front porches,
side yard;
bay
Day Care;
Transit windows,
Religious
Station;
Safety Services;
Community Garden; Market or Defining Characteristics:
Rear 20’
Entry vestibule, shed kitchen,
Central heating 6 ft.; Front porches, bay windows,
side yard;
Defining
pported Farm Community-Supported Farm *Attached or semi-detached CMX-1 district
shallow closets, indoor plumbing,
Single or Two-Fam Semi
tall ceilings, elaborate woodwork Three to four stories, 18-22 feet shallow closets, indoor plumbing,
Single or Two-Fam Semi
tall ceilings, elaborate woodwork Three to
pecial exception approval:
Personal Care Home; Single-Room
Front 20’
Min Description: Small scale neighborhood commercial and residential

central heating mixed use
Quick Reference Guide
Detached: 10 ft.
Multi-Fam Detached/
Group Living; Personal
Uses requiring special exception approval:
Care Home; Single-Room
Corner: 8 ft.
Front 20’
uses are governed by the dimensional
wide, carriage houses,
Min two stairs, central heating
Detached: 10 ft.
Multi-Fam Detached/
Corner: 8 ft.
Min. Front
wide, carr
tive Recreation; Group Day Care;
. Lo
tW
Lower Density Residential Districts
Residence; Active Recreation; Group Day Care; standards
. Lo
tW of the most restrictive adjacent Dept
multiple formal rooms,
district.rooms multiple
idth Multi-Fam Semi-Detached: idth Multi-Fam Semi-Detached:
Side Yard 6’ to 16’, based Side Yard 6’ to 16’, based
acilities; Fraternal Organization; 50’
on number of families Educational Facilities; Fraternal Organization;
16 ft.
50’
on number of families 16 ft.
ries and Cultural Exhibits; Utilities Hospital; Libraries and Cultural Exhibits; Utilities
Uses permitted as of right: Household Living**; Passive Recreation;
and Services,Family Day
Min. Rear Yard Min. Rear Yard
for live-in help, skylights over for live-in
**For permitted nonresidential uses **For permitted nonresidential uses
basic; Wireless Service Facility 20 ft. basic; Wireless Service Facility 20 ft.
STRICT TYPICAL PLAN/BUILDING FORM TYPICAL
Min. Side Yard Width: 8 ft. per side yard.
BUILDING
Depth DIMENSIONAL STANDARDS Depth Min. Side Yard Width: 8 ft. per side yard.
Care; Group Day Care; Libraries and Cultural Exhibits; Religious Assembly; SafetyC
Max. FAR 150% of Lot area Max. FAR 150% of Lot area
ladelPhia C ity P lanning C ommission Min. Lot WidthP C P 50 ft. hiladelPhia ity lanning ommission
stairwells, lightwells, ornate stairwells
Min. Side Y
RSA-1 Lot Width 50’ Lot Width 50’
Services; Transit Station; Utilities and Services, Basic; Building or Tower-Mounted fireplaces and paneling fireplaces
Antenna; Business, Professional Office; Medical, Dental, Health Sole Practitioner;
Min. Lot Area 5,000 sq. ft. Widt
ached; Semi-Detached
ngle-Family; Passive
TYPE 03 Front 25’ Front 25’
SideDrug TYPE 04
Government Office; Building Supplies and Equipment; Consumer Min. OpenGoodsArea
Yard Paraphernalia and Guns); Food, Beverages, and Groceries; Pets and Pet25 ft.
Min. Front
(except 70%
Limited to
2,000 sq. ft. Min. Rear
Supplies; Sundries, Pharmaceuticals, and Convenience Sales; Wearing Apparel
Setback
Mid to Late 19th Century Rowhouses

15’
e; Religious Assembly; ntial
Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached
e
ion; Community
and Accessories; Animal Services; Business Support; Financial Services (except
Detached,
Resid Dept
Detached
Lot Intermediate Lot:

ty-Supported Farm Min. Side Yard l
Personal Credit Establishments);
Axon Maintenance and Repair of Consumer Goods; www.philaplanning.org 7
Line
Streetview
Side Width*
10 ft. per yard, 25
Streetview m ercia Axon
tion approval: Group ft. total; Detached, Com
; Active Recreation;
Yard 25’
On-Premise Dry Cleaning; Personal Services (except Body Art and FortuneCorner TellingLot: 7 ft. Rear X’
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE
al Facilities; Fraternal Services); Community Garden; Market or Community-Supported Farm Semi-Detached: Min Fro Max. Hei
ries and Cultural Side 25 ft. Wid . Lo nt Side Yard X’
Rear 25’ Yard X’
es, basic; Wireless Rear 25’
Min. Rear Yard th t
Uses requiring
Min.special exception
15 ft. per approval: Active Recreation; Day
DepthCare Center;
10’ *For permitted nonresidential uses
Side Yard Width: side yard. 25 ft. X’
Wireless Freestanding Tower; Medical, Dental, Health GroupMax. Practitioner; Prepared
Lot
Line Height 38 ft. Min. Corn
Food Shop; Funeral and Mortuary Services Min. Lot Width 35 ft.
RSA-2 Heigh
Lot Width 35’
Lot Width 35’
Min. Lot Area 3,150 sq. ft.
Front 15’ Front 15’
ached; Semi-Detached Min. Open Area 60%
Min. Front Max. FA
ngle-Family; Passive 15 ft.
e; Religious Assembly; Setback
Detached
Detached
Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached
Detached,
ion; Community Side Intermediate Lot:
ty-Supported Farm Yard 16’ Min. Side Yard
8 ft. per side yard;
Width*
CMX-2*
Detached, Corner *An attached building in CMX-2 must
tion approval: Group Lot: 6 ft.
; Active Recreation; contain a non-residential use along 100% of Max. Occu
Semi-Detached:
al Facilities; Fraternal Rear 20’ Rear 25’
Side Yard 8’
the ground floor frontage and within the first
16 ft.
ries and Cultural Urban Form Description: Small scale neighborhood commercial and residential
Zoning Overlay mixed use Urban Form
30 ft. of building depth. Zoning Overlay Area
es, basic; Wireless Min. Rear Yard
*For permitted nonresidential uses 20 ft.
Lot
Line Min. Side Yard Width:RSA-1, Residential
10 ft. per side yard. Single-family Attached-1
Depth *An attached building in CMX-2 must CMX-2*, Neighborhood Commercial Mixed-Use-2
Uses permitted as of right: Household Living**; Passive Recreation; Max. HeightFamily 38 ft. contain a non-residential use along
Day Care; Group Day Care; SizeDay Care Center; Educational Min. Facilities; Fraternal 25 ft. 100% of the ground floor frontage Size
Lot Width and within the first 30’ of bldg. depth
RSA-3 Min. Lot
Organization; Hospital; LibrariesMedium and Cultural Exhibits; Religious Assembly; Medium Min. Front
Width 25’
Min. Lot Width 25’
3 floors
Safety Services; Utilities and Services, Basic; Building or Tower-MountedMin. Lot Area 2,250 sq. ft. 3 floors
2,200-2,500 sf 2,200-2,500 sf Dept
ached; Semi-Detached Front 8’ Front 8’ Antenna; Business, Professional Office; Medical, Dental, Health Sole
Min. Open Practitioner;
Area 50%
ngle-Family; Passive Government Office; Building Supplies and Equipment; Consumer

Colloquialisms Goods (except
Min. Front
8 ft. Colloquialisms
Drug Paraphernalia and Guns); Food, Beverages, and Groceries; Pets and Pet
Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached
e; Religious Assembly; Setback

Streetcar Townhouse Detached Streetcar Townhouse
ion; Community
Detached
ty-Supported Farm Supplies; Sundries, Pharmaceuticals, and Convenience Sales; Wearing

Min. Side Yard Apparel
Intermediate Lot:
Height 38’
and Accessories; BusinessPermitted Support; Prepared Building Type
Food Shop; Sit Down
Width* Restaurant;
8 ft. per side yard;
Rear Uses Permitted as of right Min. Side Y
Detached, Corner
tion approval: Group
; Active Recreation;
Lot
Line
Financial Services (exceptDetached;
Personal Credit Establishments); Funeral and Mortuary
Semi-Detached Lot: 8 ft. (see table) Household Living**; Passive Recreation; Family Day Care; Group Day Care; Day
Care Center; Educational Facilities; Fraternal Organization; Hospital; Libraries
Widt
Services; Maintenance and Repair of Consumer Goods; On-Premise Dry Cleaning;
Side Yard 8’ Semi-Detached:
al Facilities; Fraternal and Cultural Exhibits; Religious Assembly; Safety Services; Utilities and Services,
ries and Cultural
Side
Uses Permitted as of right 8 ft. Basic; Building or Tower-Mounted Antenna; Business, Professional Office;
es, basic; Wireless
Yard 8’ Personal Services (except Body Art and Fortune Telling Services); Min. Rear Radio,
Yard 15 ft. Single-Family; Max. occupied Side Yard 5’, if used Medical, Dental, Health Sole Practitioner; Government Office; Building Supplies
Recording
Min. Side
Single-Family;
*For permitted nonresidential uses
Television, and Yard Width: Services;
Passive Recreation; Family
Commissaries and CateringDepth
8 ft. per side yard.
Day Care;
Services; Vehicle
20 ft. Other area is 75% of the lot and Equipment; Consumer Goods (except Drug Paraphernalia and Guns); Food,
Rear 15’ Single-Family, Rear 15’ Single-Family, Beverages, and Groceries; Pets and Pet Supplies; Sundries, Pharmaceuticals,
Religious Assembly; Safety Services; Transit Station;
20’ Other 20’ Other
Equipment and Supplies Sales and Rental; Moving and Storage Facilities;
Max. Height
Community Garden; Market or Community-Supported Artist38 ft. and Convenience Sales; Wearing Apparel and Accessories; Business Support;
Prepared Food Shop; Sit Down Restaurant; Financial Services (except Personal Min. Rear
ty P lanning C ommission Dimensional Standards
Studios and Artisan Industrial; FarmResearch and Development; Community Garden; Dimensional Standards
Credit Establishments); Funeral and Mortuary Services; Maintenance and Repair
of Consumer Goods; On-Premise Dry Cleaning; Personal Services (except Body Dept
Market or Community-Supported Farm Art and Fortune Telling Services); Radio, Television, and Recording Services;
Minimum lot width 25’ Uses requiring special exception approval Max Occupied Area Intermediate : 75% Commissaries and Catering Services; Vehicle Equipment and Supplies Sales
Uses Known
requiring Workingman’s
as:special exception house Known
approval: Personal Streetcar
as:Home;
Care town house
Active Known as: Urban mansion, and Rental; Moving and Storage Facilities; Artist Studios and Artisan Industrial;
Minimum lot area 2,250 sf Group Living; Personal Care Home; Active Recreation; ** Max. of two dwelling units are Corner : 80% for lots less
permitted Research and Development; Community Garden; Market or Community-
Minimum open area 50% Recreation; Transit Station;
Size: 1,000-1,600 Wireless
sq. Group
ft. Freestanding
Day Care; Size:Tower;
Educational Medical,
2,200-2,500
Facilities; Dental,
sq. ft.
Fraternal
townhouse
Minimum Front Yard
than 1,440 sq. ft.Depth
A max. of three N/Adwelling units are Supported Farm
Minimum front setback 8’ Health

on two Group Practitioner;Organization;
floors Animal Services; Assembly
Hospital; andand
onLibraries
3 floors Entertainment (except
Cultural Exhibits; Minimum
Size: Side for
Yardlots
3,000-6,000
permitted Width sq.areft.1,4405’ sq.
that if used
ft. to 1,919 sq. ft. A Uses requiring special exception approval
Amusement
: 8’ / side Arcade, Utilities
Casino, and Services,
and Pool basic;
or Billiards Wireless
Room); NightService Facility
Clubs and Private minimum
Minimum ofYard
480Depth
sq. ft. of lot isThe
required per
of dwelling
9’ or 10%unit
Minimum side yard width Detached Intermediate Lot yard
Location: Center City, South Location: North Philadelphia, on 3-4Rear
floors greater of Lot Depth Personal Care Home; Active Recreation; Transit Station; Wireless Freestanding
Max. Hei
Detached Corner Lot : 8’Clubs; Take-Out Restaurant; Surface Parking; Structured Parking; Moving and
Characteristics
Maxfor
Height
the lot area in excess of 1,919 38’ sq. ft. When number of Tower; Medical, Dental, Health Group Practitioner; Animal Services; Assembly and
Semi-Detached : 8’
Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, Location: Rittenhouse
dwelling units Square,
calculates to a fraction, round down. Entertainment (except Amusement Arcade, Casino, and Pool or Billiards Room);
Storage Facilities
West Philadelphia, Brick with Stone Front
Manayunk West Philadelphia North Broad Street, South
Night Clubs and Private Clubs; Take-Out Restaurant; Surface Parking; Structured
Minimum rear yard depth Single Family : 15’ **Max. of two dwelling units are permitted for lots less than 1,440 sq. ft. A max. Parking; Moving and Storage Facilities
Front porches
Other : 20’ Defining Characteristics: Bay windows Defining Characteristics: Broad
of three Streetunits are permitted for lots that are 1,440 sq. ft. to 1,919 sq. ft. A
dwelling Z oning C ode Q uiCk
Max height 38’ minimum of 480 sq. ft. of lot is required per dwelling unit for the lot area in excess of Characteristics
Tall ceilings
Entry vestibule, shed kitchen, Front porches, bay windows, Defining Characteristics:
Elaborate woodwork 1,919 sq. ft. When number of dwelling units calculates to a fraction, round down. Brick with Stone Front, Front porches, Bay windows, Tall
shallow closets, indoor plumbing, tall ceilings, elaborate woodwork Three to four stories, 18-22 feet ceilings, Elaborate woodwork
central heating wide, carriage houses, two stairs,
multiple formal rooms, rooms
for live-in help, skylights over
stairwells, lightwells, ornate
fireplaces and paneling
“Combine” Worksheet
Use a framework to understand the current conditions and
connections between civic assets in your area of focus. Propose
phased ideas that identify partners and desired effects.
SEE, HEAR & COMBINE STRENGTHEN

What is there? What is happening? How to phase investment
Library What is the physical condition of

YEAR 1 Spark
what is there?
PHYSICAL
Recreation Center Ideas : What is the most feasible idea?
Park What is the spatial relationship of Requ’s: What is physically needed to
Police/Fire the assets? enact it?
Partners: Who needs to be involved to make the

Street What is the formative history of the idea a reality?
HISTORIC
Funding? Engagement? Ownership?

Vacant Land place?
Effect: What effects can you expect to see from
Schools What is the history of the assets?
this idea?
How can the outcome be measured?
...
What is the economic profile of the
community?
ECONOMIC
YEAR 5 Build
What is the economic state of the Ideas : What built idea will have the
assets? most impact?
Requ’s: -
Partners: -
Where do people work, shop, gather? Effect: -
What are the demographics of the

SOCIAL
place?
What events take place?
What are the policy initiatives of

political leaders? YEAR 10 Sustain
POLITICAL
Idea : What idea will solidify longterm

What community groups are change?
politically representing the Partners: -
Effect: -
neighborhood?
What discussions are taking place

around the environment?
ENVIRONMENTAL
Are there organizations that are

working to improve the environment
What environmental concerns exist

in the neighborhood
What is the health profile of the

community?
HEALTH
What are the key health issues for

this community?

SEE, HEAR & COMBINE STRENGTHEN SEE, HEAR & COMBINE STRENGTHEN
Civic Commons Civic Currents Spark, Build, & Sustain Civic Commons Civic Currents Spark, Build, & Sustain
Library Library - failing building Library Library - failing building
Library - landmark YEAR 1 Mobile Toolbox Library - landmark

Library - extended lending
YEAR 1 Event
Recreation Center Library - extended lending Idea : Library extends lending from books to Recreation Center Library - jobs program
Library - on Woodland Idea : Create events around the neighborhood
Library - jobs program gardening tools Library - @ gateway and develope an economic framework to
Park Library - on Woodland Requ’s: use (improve?) existing space Park Rec Center - failing building, distant fund future projects
Library - @ gateway Partners: FLP use of facility, Staff Requ’s: Use existing recreation infrastructure
Police/Fire Station Library - Tie lendingy PHS instruction Police/Fire Rec Center - missing programming Partners: FM employees and volunteers
City vacant land provision P&R Coordinate program and $$$
Rec Center - failing building, distant
seed funding Parks - underused
Street Rec Center - missing programming
Citizens Tool Donations Street City permits and variances
Parks - underused Parks - Other open space Food Area vendors / restaurants
PHYSICAL
PHYSICAL
Parks - Other open space - Mt Moriah + Rivers Effect: Food for personal consumption
Vacant Land Parks - Train lines potential Rail Trail Food for sale Vacant Land Parks - Train lines potential Rail Trail
Police Station - failing building
Association for Public Art
Police Station - failing building
More beautiful = Safer Franklin Paine Skatepark Fund
Police Station - well integrated (ATM, mural,…) Police Station - well integrated (ATM, mural,…)
Effect: Existing recreational sites activated
Schools Police Station - missing parking Sense of ownership Schools Police Station - missing parking
Police Station - uninviting Dormant parks injected with program
Police Station - uninviting Communiy building
GE Site - land toxic GE Site - land toxic A new economic model specific to the
GE Site - interrupted grid GE Site - interrupted grid
GE Site - historic neighborhood center GE Site - historic neighborhood center needs, desires and culture of the
GE Site - potential new turn around GE Site - potential new turn around neighborhood can be developed
GE Site - colocated with schools GE Site - colocated with schools
vacant land decreased safety
vacant land decreased safety
YEAR 5 Porch Commons green vacant lot improves
green vacant lot improves School - dangerous
School - dangerous
School - overcrowded
Idea : Library extends lending from books to
event + vending space School - overcrowded YEAR 5 Activate
School - distant play fields
Requ’s: added on showroom
School - historic building
Partners: FLP use of facility, Staff
School - distant play fields Idea : expand infrastructure to include
Trolley - turn around precedent
School - historic building vehicles capable of mobile events
Trolley - connectivity SWCDC spearhead fundraising Trolley - turn around precedent Requ’s: Develop adaptive lightweight structures
City zoning, permits Trolley - connectivity
Trolley - doesn’t connect to aiport
Citizens Construction Volunteers Trolley - doesn’t connect to aiport that are mobile, easy to use, and
Trolley - upcoming improvements Effect: Provide Gathering Space Trolley - upcoming improvements capable of aggregation
Streets - wide sidewalks (many places) Nurture Entrepreneurial Spirit
Streets - wide sidewalks (many places)
Streets - super narrow streets
Fit out existing vehicles and
Streets - super narrow streets Revenue for residents Streets - poor curbs infrastructure when possible
Streets - poor curbs Revenue for library? Streets - woodland ave missing parking Partners: FM employees and volunteers
Streets - woodland ave missing parking Community / identity building Housing - porch typology P&R Coordinate program and $$$
Housing - porch typology Visual connection Library - Woodland
Housing - row house typology
Housing - abandominiums City permits and variances
Housing - row house typology Extend commercial corrridor Historic theaters SWCDC Fundraising and promotion
HISTORIC
HISTORIC
Housing - abandominiums
Historic theaters Neighborhood Gateway Woodland Ave commercial corridor Food Area vendors / restaurants
Elmwood Ave underdeveloped
Woodland Ave commercial corridor Urban Ag proliferation Knight Arts Challenge
Reinvestment Fund
Elmwood Ave underdeveloped West African Food Effect: activate unused or underutilized parks
Urban Ag proliferation
West African Food Finanta increasing loans and recreation areas
Finanta increasing loans YEAR 10 Satellite Blue Barrel Economy increase number of events
engage and excite local residents
Blue Barrel Economy Food establishments - many
ECONOMIC
ECONOMIC
generate revenue for local businessses
Food establishments - many Idea : Library programs spread into the Day care centers - many
Day care centers - many neighborhood Personal care stores - many
Personal care stores - many Logistics hub nearby
Logistics hub nearby Requ’s: adapted buildings
Industrial jobs nearby
Industrial jobs nearby new construction Airport jobs nearby
Partners: FLP extend Staff
YEAR 5 Build to Suit
Airport jobs nearby First generation entrepreneurial spirit
First generation entrepreneurial spirit Finanta Loan Workshop to the world heritage
Trash
City zoning, permits, sell builings
Scrap Businesses Idea : New construction and permanent
Workshop to the world heritage Citizens Construction Volunteers
Trash Effect: Expansion of previous effects African American / West African Conflicts additions for recreational activities
Scrap Businesses Requ’s: Capital funds must be raised
Rapidly changing community
SOCIAL
ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICAL SOCIAL
African American / West African Conflicts Develop a data / feedback model for
High rate of youths (under 24) High rate of youths (under 24) determing the optimum design option
High rate of larger families Maintain and incorporate event and
High rate of diversity High rate of larger families pop-up programming and infrastructure
Asset distribution
Partners: FM employees and volunteers
ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICAL
Train lines disconnection
High rate of diversity City permits and variances
Missing venues
SWCDC Asset distribution SWCDC Fundraising and promotion
African community group
Train lines disconnection
Food Area vendors / restaurants
USGBC project search PHS Which sites for permanent?
Missing venues
PHS vacant lot programs SWCDC - weak Knight Arts Challenge
African community group
PAL existing police coaching
USGBC project search
Association for Public Art
Neighborhood poor storm water control Effect: Permanent structures represent
PHS vacant lot programs
Philadelphia Orchard Project
PAL existing police coaching permanent change to the neighborhood,
Political representation - missing
Neighborhood poor storm water control
and symbolize a desired stability
Philadelphia Orchard Project
SEE, HEAR & COMBINE STRENGTHEN SEE, HEAR & COMBINE STRENGTHEN
Civic Commons Civic Currents Spark, Build, & Sustain Civic Commons Civic Currents Spark, Build, & Sustain
Library Library - failing building

Library Library - failing building
Library - lending (extended: ties, music room)
Library - on woodland
Library - @ gateway YEAR 1 Activate
Library - lending (extended: ties, music room)
Rec Center - failing building YEAR 1 Germinate
Rec Center - missing programming
Rec Center Rec Center - failing building
Rec Center - missing programming
Recreation Center Parks - underused
Parks - Trails (existing + planned) Ideas : Seed Gardens, healthy school lunch,
Idea : Strengthen East-West corridors with Parks - Breezeways
Park Rec Center - distant community events Park Police Station - well integrated (ATM, mural,…)
and neighborhood kitchen
Requ’s: use existing spaces, tents
Police Station - uninviting Requ’s: use existing space, found objects, seeds
Parks - underused
Parks - Mt Moriah
Partners: Night Market Philadelphia GE Site - land toxic Partners: POP orchard installation + training
Police/Fire Parks - Rivers
Woodland Ave Business Assoc.
Police/Fire GE Site - collocated with schools BG tools, training
Parks - Trails (existing + planned) Elmwood Businesses USDA funding and education
Street Parks - Breezeways Bartram and Tilden Schools Street Vacant Land - throughout
Vacant Land - decreased safety TFT funding and research
Vacant Land - green vacant lot improves VCP Eatiquette: school lunch
train lines potential green belts
PHYSICAL
Effect: Connect between Woodland and Elmwood

Vacant Land Police Station - failing building Food availability Vacant Land School - dangerous Citizens time and effort
Communiy building Effect: Healthy food awareness
Police Station - well integrated (ATM, mural,…)
Schools Police Station - uninviting
GE Site - land toxic Improvements on 66th Street Schools School - distant play fields
Skill training
Food for school and personal use
Additional revenue for local businesses
GE Site - interrupted grid Trolley - connectivity Less obesity
GE Site - potential new turn around Trolley - upcoming improvements
PHYSICAL
GE Site - colocated with schools

Streets - wide sidewalks (many places)
Vacant Land - decreased safety Streets - Bike Paths, planned
YEAR 5 Cultivate
Vacant Land - green vacant lot improves Housing - porch typology
School - dangerous
School - distant play fields
YEAR 5 Link Housing - abandominiums
Housing - Yards
Trolley - turn-around precedent Historic - School Ideas : Garden hub, culinary arts academy,
HISTORIC
Idea : Add infrastructure to complete the loop and street market

Trolley - connectivity Requ’s: new bridge
Historic - Library
Historic - Cemetery Requ’s: use existing space, light structures
Trolley - doesn’t connect to aiport additional bike lanes Historic - GE was neighborhood center Partners: TFT funding
Trolley - upcoming improvements connection through GE Site
Partners: City zoning, permits
Woodland Ave commercial corridor VCP culinary arts academy
Streets - wide sidewalks (many places) Elmwood Ave underdeveloped BG vegetables and fruits
Amtrak bridge constraints PHS land, training
Streets - super narrow streets IndeGo Bike Share Urban Ag proliferation TRF funding
Streets - poor curbs Effect: Continued street grid West African Food Effect: Sense of ownership
Streets - Bike Paths, planned Improved neighborhood perception Finanta increasing loans Job Training
Connections between parks Revenue for local gardeners
Streets - woodland ave missing parking
ECONOMIC
"2000 containers /month"

Opportunities for GE Site development Blue Barrel Economy Expansion of previous effects
Housing - porch typology and remediation
Housing - row house typology food establishments - many
Housing - abandominiums
Housing - Yards day care centers - many
HISTORIC
Historic - Theaters airport jobs nearby

Historic - School
Historic - Library first generation entrepreneurial spirit
Historic - Cemetery
Historic - GE was neighborhood center YEAR 10 Loop Night Market YEAR 10 Produce
Woodland Ave commercial corridor Demo Kitchen
Idea : Transit hub and regional connections Workshop to the world heritage Idea : Greenhouse, food incubator, and
ECONOMIC
Elmwood Ave underdeveloped

create new neighborhood loops Culinary Arts Training community co-op
SOCIAL
Urban Ag proliferation
West African Food Partners: TFT funding
Blue Barrel Economy Requ’s: new building, transit, and street Trash
logistics hub nearby infrastructure high rate of youths (under 24) VCP culinary arts academy
industrial jobs nearby
airport jobs nearby Partners: Amtrak Bridge and edge constraints high rate of diversity BG vegetables and fruits
SWCDC
first generation entrepreneurial spirit
City Approvals and Permits african community group PHS land, training
Night Market Developers GE Site USGBC project search TRF funding
IndeGo bike share Effect: Workforce development
SOCIAL
Workshop to the world heritage PHS vacant lot programs Entrepreneurial resources
Culinary Arts Training Philadelphia Orchard Project
Trash
Scrap Businesses Effect: Strong neighborhood identity and PAL existing police coaching Neighborhood Identity
Block captains
African American / West African Conflicts
connection West Philly Tool Library Local revenue
POLITICAL

high rate of youths (under 24) Ease of transit to/from neighborhood P.E.A.C.H. Local food
high rate of diversity
asset distribution Sense of open space ownership Free Library Culinary Literacy Center
train lines disconnection 2035
POLITICAL
renew
missing venues
african community group
pre-K
ENVIRONMENTAL
USGBC project search

PHS vacant lot programs
bond issue
PAL existing police coaching New Police Chief
Block captains PHS Roots to Reentry
2035 sustainability department - neighborhood scale pilot projects
renew
ENVIRONMENTAL
pre-K
bond issue
SNAP and SNAP- Ed
New Police Chief
PHS Roots to Reentry
Eatiquette - the Vetri school lunch
My Daughter's Kitchen afterschool cooking
neighborhood poor storm water control
40% adult obesity
HEALTH
sustainability department - neighborhood scale pilot projects

water department 20% child obesity
60% adult high blood pressure
CIVIC COMMONS 87
Sketch
Visualize ideas quickly, share, and discuss. Engage with your team
as well as your community stakeholders. Sketching is a fun and easy
activity for everyone to participate in.

CIVIC COMMONS 89
CIVIC COMMONS 91
Selected Bibliography
CITY COMMONS
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Environment.” Next City, March 21, 2016. https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/seattle-climate-
change-low-income-residents.
Erbentraut, Joseph. “‘Agrihoods’ Offer Suburban Living Built Around Community Farms,
Not Golf Courses.” Huffington Post, Aug 17, 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/
agrihood-the-cannery-davis-california_us_55ce205ce4b07addcb42d5b0.
Irwin, Neil and Quoctrung Bui. “The Rich Live longer Everywhere. For the Poor
Geography Matters.” New York Times, April 11, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/
interactive/2016/04/11/upshot/for-the-poor-geography-is-life-and-death.html.
Kretzmann, John P., and John L. McKnight. Building Communities from the Inside
Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. Skokie, IL: ACTA
Publications, 1993.
Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. “The Trials of Alice Goffman.” New York Times, January 12, 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/magazine/the-trials-of-alice-goffman.html.
“Our People, Our Planet, Our Power.” Go Green Seattle and Puget Sound
Sage, March 2016. http://gotgreenseattle.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/
OurPeopleOurPlanetOurPower_GotGreen_Sage_Final1.pdf.
Rufolo, Anthony. “Housing Decay: Cause or Sympton of Urban Decline?” Federal Reserve
Bank of Philadelphia. Business Review. March/April 1978.
Ryan, Brent D. Design after Decline: How America Rebuilds Shrinking Cities.
Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.
Urban Task Force Chaired by Lord Rogers of Riverside. Towards an Urban Renaissance:
Final Report. Dept of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. London: E&FN, 1999.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Blanck, Heidi M., Diana Allen, Zarnaaz Bashir, et al. “Let’s Go to the Park Today: The Role
of Parks in Obesity Prevention and Improving the Public’s Health.” Childhood Obesity vol.
8, no. 5. (October 2012).
Cohen, Debrah, Bing Han, Catherine J. Nagel et al. “National Survey of Neighborhood
Parks.” Rand Corporation, May 30, 2016. http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_
publications/EP66493.html.
Cohen, Josh. “Where a Slice of Green Space Combats Stress.” Next City, May 2, 2016.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/study-urban-green-space-extends-life-span.
Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Atlanta, GA. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao.
Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation. “Green City, Clean Waters.” City
Parks Alliance. http://www.cityparksalliance.org/issues-a-resources/environment/case-
studies/green-city-clean-waters.
LIBRARIES
Bliss, Laura. “The Quiet Majesty of America’s Public Libraries.” City Lab from the
Atlantic, Jun 16, 2016. http://www.citylab.com/design/2016/06/robert-dawson-american-
public-libraries/487352.
“Income Inequality,” “Resilience,” and “Urbanization,” Center for the Future of Libraries.
http://www.ala.org/transforminglibraries/future/trends.
“Minnesota Public Libraries’ Return on Investment.” Bureau of Business and Economic

Research (BBER), Labovitz School of Business and Economics (LSBE), University of
Minnesota Duluth, 2011. Duluth, MN. http://melsa.org/melsa/assets/File/Library_final.
pdf.
Resnick, Brian. “The Library of the Future is Here.” City Lab From the Atlantic, January
24, 2014. http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/01/library-future-here/8193.
Zicjuhr, Kathryn, Lee Rainie, and Kristen Purcell. “Library Services in the Digital Age,
Part 4: What People Want from their Libraries.” Pew Internet & American Life Project:
Jan 22, 2013. http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/01/22/part-4-what-people-want-
from-their-libraries.
SCHOOLS
“Healthy Schools.” Let’s Move: America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids.
http://www.letsmove.gov/healthy-schools.
Iverson, Louise. “Growing Food For Growing Cities: New Council Report On Transforming
Food Systems For Food Security In An Urbanizing World.” The Chicago Council on
Global Affairs, April 2016. https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/blog/global-food-thought/
growing-food-growing-cities-new-council-report-transforming-food-systems.
Lentz, Erin and Raj Patel. “Commentary: A word to Flotus: Let’s all move.” Austin
American-Statesman, March 15, 2016. http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/
opinion/commentary-a-word-to-flotus-lets-all-move/nqkcS.
CIVIC COMMONS 93
McLanahan, Sarah, Janet M. Currie, Ron Haskins, et al. “Children and Climate Change.”
The Future of Children, vol. 26 (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International
Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution), Spring 2016. http://www.
futureofchildren.org/publications/docs/Climate%20Change%20Full%20Issue.pdf.
Place Lab. “Ethical Redevelopment: Arts + Culture Build Cities.” The University of
Chicago, June 22, 2016.
“The State of Obesity.” Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
September 21, 2015. http://stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity.
USA National Phenology Network, www.usanpn.org.
POLICE STATIONS
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness. New York: New Press, 2012.
“Breaking Down the Battlements: Jacksonville’s New Police Headquarters.”

Architectural Record (January 1978), 117-121.
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Final Report of the President’s Task
Force on 21st Century Policing. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services, 2015.
Terry, Don. “Police Station Becomes a Cash Station.” New York Times, April 1, 1994.
STREETS AND TRANSIT
Creatore, Maria I., Richard H. Glazier, Rahim Moineddin, et al. “Association of

Neighborhood Walkability with Change in Overweight, Obesity, and Diabetes.” The
Journal of the American Medical Association. May 24, 2016. http://jama.jamanetwork.
com/article.aspx?articleid=252419.
Global Urban Observatories Unit. “Streets as Pubic Spaces and Drivers of Urban
Prosperity.” UN-Habitat, November 12, 2013. http://mirror.unhabitat.org/pmss/
listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=3513.
“Pathways to Opportunity: Housing, Transportation, and Social Mobility.” Brookings

Institution, Metropolitan Policy Event, February 23, 2016.
Poon, Linda. “Dinner at ‘The Longest Table’ Helps Tallahassee Break Down Barriers.”
City Lab from the Atlantic, April 12, 2016. http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/04/
dinner-at-the-longest-table-helps-tallahassee-break-down-barriers/477714.
Poon, Linda. “The Value of a City’s ‘Street Score’.” City Lab from the Atlantic, April 21,
2016. http://www.citylab.com/design/2016/04/the-value-of-a-citys-streetscore/479385.
Sadik-Khan, Janette, and Seth Solomonow. Street Fight: Handbook for an Urban
Revolution. New York, NY: Viking, 2016.
“Streets as Places: Streets are for... Everything.” Project for Public Spaces. http://www.
pps.org/reference/streets-as-places.
“Urban Land Institute 2015 Annual Report: Turning Soulless Commercial Strips
into Healthy Corridors.” Urban Land Institute, 2015. http://annualreport.uli.org/our-
priorities/shaping-cities-regions.
“Where Public Transportation Goes Community Grows.” American Public Transportation

Association. http://www.publictransportation.org/benefits/grows/Pages/default.aspx.
PHILADELPHIA
Fairbanks, Robert P. How It Works: Recovering Citizens in Post-Welfare Philadelphia.

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Nepa, Stephen E. “There Used to Be Nowhere to Eat in This Town: Restaurant-Led

Development in Postindustrial Philadelphia,” PhD Diss., Temple University, 2012. http://
digital.library.temple.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/178239.
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Ideal.” Master’s Thesis, MIT, 2002. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582.
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Tatum, George. Penn’s Great Town: 250 Years of Philadelphia Architecture Illustrated in
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Year History. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1982.
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Neighborhood Transformation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011.
CIVIC COMMONS 95
Acknowledgments
Studio Gang Project Team
Jeanne Gang, Founder and Principal
Mark Schendel, Managing Principal
Gia Biagi, Senior Director of Urbanism + Civic Impact
Thorsten Johann, Senior Project Leader
Chris Bennett, Team Leader
Abraham Bendheim, Project Team
Corbin Keech, Project Team
Ellen Anderson, Project Team
and Kristin Ridge, Design Team Member
with Alissa Anderson, Publications Director
Made Possible by the Generous Support Of

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The Kresge Foundation
The Miami Foundation
Special Thanks
Office of the Mayor, City of Philadelphia
Office of Sustainability, City of Philadelphia
Office of Criminal Justice, City of Philadelphia
Parks and Recreation, City of Philadelphia
Free Library Philadelphia, City of Philadelphia
Southwest Community Development Corporation
Philadelphia Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Pennsylvania Horticulture Society
The Reinvestment Fund
Wallace Roberts & Todd
OLIN
Nancy Goldenberg
Walter Licht
Copyright © 2016 Studio Gang Architects

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Civic

What becomes possible when we

2 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

VACANT LAND CIVIC COMMONS 3

New York City

Health Integrated Wellness

Security Public Safety

Education Open Opportunity

Economy Inclusive Growth

Environment Sustainable Practices

Infrastructure Engaged Ownership

Society Social Solidarity

10 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

Reconsidering these assets today as part of a single, interconnected civic commons

LIBRARIES PARKS REC CENTERS POLICE STATIONS

SCHOOLS STREETS TRANSIT

These civic assets represent only a selection of the wide

12 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

16 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

Activated as a network, civic assets pulse with energy

Designed to house books and provide

physical presence of most public

You can better connect people with the

18 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

For many city dwellers, urban parks are

make people healthier, happier, and

20 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

Let’s play hide and seek!

Despite this celebrated original role,

a spectrum of wellness services and

increasing awareness of the necessity of

We can activate rec centers’ broader

22 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

Since 17th-century watchmen checked in at small “watch boxes” while patroling on

Today the vast dimensions of urban

large stations surrounded by parking

24 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

Urban schools’ physical plant presents

indoor environments, surrounded by

as an extension of the classroom,

Converting schools into integrated science and agriculture campuses—where students

26 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

When we make streets work as

become civic assets that contribute

28 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

Despite this quantifiable positive impact,

poor transit decisions can damage

You can capitalize on the great

30 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

34 STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS

Southwest Philadelphia is a post-industrial district south of University City and west

Recent immigrants and long-time Philadelphians make Southwest Philadelphia their

The following section envisions what is possible in Southwest Philadelphia by applying

Job Search Program

Get Your Rear In Gear

Job Search Program

Narcotics Anonymous FREE Fitness - Walking club

Job Search Program

Job Search Program

Rotary Club of Eastwick Mentoring Workshops

Understanding Children Discussion Series

Application for Beech Scholarships

Sayre Health Fair

Rotary Club Annual Bowling Fundraiser