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Urban Planning
How can cities become healthier, greener, and more equitable in the future?
How can cities become healthier, greener, and more equitable in the future?
In a year marked by COVID-19, renewed calls for racial justice, a contentious presidential election, and an active wildfire and hurricane season, Penn experts share what’s needed to make urban areas more resilient to future crises.
At the intersection of water, equity, and climate change
At the intersection of water, equity, and climate change
The Water Center at Penn is collaborating to help guide community decisions to build capacity in water infrastructure.
‘Perspectives on Fair Housing’ looks back on more than 50 years of landmark legislation
‘Perspectives on Fair Housing’ looks back on more than 50 years of landmark legislation
A new Penn Press book featuring experts from law, education, urban studies, and social policy presents fair housing as one of the foremost issues facing the U.S. today.
Housing initiative fuels cooperation between cities during pandemic
Housing initiative fuels cooperation between cities during pandemic
Vincent Reina and Amy Castro Baker are working with the U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, through the Housing Initiative at Penn to design a housing assistance plan both during the pandemic and after.
Safely reengaging with nightlife and supporting the creative economy
Safely reengaging with nightlife and supporting the creative economy
PennPraxis researchers are collaborating on the Global Nighttime Recovery Plan, which provides best practices, real-world examples, and frameworks for safe and inclusive nightlife.
A conversation about ‘Akon City’ and speculative urbanization
A conversation about ‘Akon City’ and speculative urbanization
Christopher Marcinkoski of the Weitzman School of Design unpacks—through the lens of speculative urbanization—the self-described ‘futuristic’ city to be built in Senegal, led by musician and philanthropist Akon.
Improving the quality of life in cities
The Gordon Fellowship program, currently in its second year, provides urban studies students with an opportunity to find summer internships that connect theory with practice.
Design travels to South Carolina to plan more protective urban coastlines
Design travels to South Carolina to plan more protective urban coastlines
A Weitzman School team is working with the city of Charleston on an urban seawall plan that combines natural elements with structural systems that respond to the local conditions of the city’s shoreline.
PennPraxis Design Fellows take on the real world with design solutions
PennPraxis Design Fellows take on the real world with design solutions
PennPraxis has expanded the scope of experience for graduate students since its founding in 2001, and now 80 Design Fellows are involved in ambitious interdisciplinary design projects.
Reflections on public spaces in the age of COVID, protest
Reflections on public spaces in the age of COVID, protest
Ken Lum and Paul Farber of the Weitzman School of Design remark on how the public might perceive public spaces and art differently in the time of COVID-19 and protests.
In the News
The New York Times
Use it or lose it: Tenant aid effort nears a federal cutoff
Vincent Reina of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design found that in some cities more than half of tenants did not qualify for rental assistance programs due to a lack of cooperation from their landlords. “We’ve consistently created programs where owners have ultimate veto power over whether a tenant can access the housing assistance that they’ve applied for and need,” he said.
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The New York Times
If restaurants go, what happens to cities?
A study by Jessie Handbury of the Wharton School documented how younger and more educated segments of the population began moving back into the downtowns of large U.S. cities from the suburbs. “A distinct and persistent feature in downtowns is their high density of restaurants,” she said. “It’s the feature that attracts people to downtowns—especially the young and college educated.”
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
I Love Thy Hood aims to solve Philly’s litter crisis with bright orange trash cans
Dan Hopkins of the School of Arts & Sciences co-led a 2018 study that found that fewer trash cans on city streets led to more littering.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Philly’s housing insecurity crisis needs long-term solutions
Claudia Aiken, Sydney Goldstein, and Vincent Reina of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design wrote an op-ed about Philadelphia’s housing crisis. “Unaffordable rents, a tsunami of layoffs largely in the service industries where many low-income renters were employed, and the vanishing housing safety net created a perfect storm in which low-income, and particularly Black, renters have nowhere to turn,” they said.
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Vox.com
The coronavirus is exposing America’s housing crisis
Vincent Reina of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about how the coronavirus pandemic is exposing the existing U.S. housing crisis. “I think this moment highlights the precarity of people generally, and how important housing is to all of us,” he said. “And I think it highlights the limited safety nets we have in place.”
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
‘If you don’t have to ride, please don’t’: SEPTA, PATCO further reduce service
Meg Ryerson of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design commented on the continued operation of public transit systems during the pandemic. “They’re not private companies out to make money,” she said. “They operate because they’re here to provide mobility in regions. That’s really incredible, to think that their mission is to be there for you during disaster times, and there for you in the best of times, and everything in between.”
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