Urban Planning

Empowering community engagement through theory and practice

This fall, students applied community participation and stakeholder involvement processes to conduct their own outreach activities on campus as part of Participatory Cities, a Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program course.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Rethinking resilience in the face of climate change

Hurricane Ida brought record-breaking rainfall and flooding, and stronger, more destructive storms will inevitably come. Being better prepared will require reconsidering how to protect people and their homes.

Michele W. Berger

A visual archive of an iconic American boulevard

A trio of undergraduate students worked this summer with Professor Francesca Ammon to catalog and organize photographs for the digital humanities project ‘Sunset over Sunset.’

Erica K. Brockmeier



In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

Comcast’s Sports Complex plan for South Philly would make our city less livable

In an Op-Ed, Vukan R. Vuchic of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that Philadelphia should make transit more accessible rather than striving to accommodate more cars.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia’s Market Street East searches for growth and renewal — with or without a new Sixers arena

Akira Drake Rodriguez, Rashida Ng, and Dominic Vitiello of the Weitzman School of Design say there should be a more robust and inclusive conversation about the future of Philadelphia’s Market Street East.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Bus Revolution would bring frequent bus service to 1 million SEPTA riders

In an Op-Ed, graduate student Jonathan Zisk of the Weitzman School of Design says that SEPTA should green-light the Bus Revolution project and allow the rollout of transformative bus service across the Philadelphia region.

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The New York Times

In a city defined by history, Chinatown’s champions fear new arena for 76ers

Domenic Vitiello of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design comments on sports projects that have not revitalized downtowns or added substantially to cities’ tax bases.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

How will Philadelphia finance climate change?

In an Op-Ed, Eugenie Birch of the Weitzman School of Design, William Burke-White of Penn Carey Law, and Mauricio Rodas of the Penn Institute for Urban Research write that Philadelphia will need to blend public and private climate financing to adapt to ever-growing climate risks.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

The Biden administration is trying to make it easier to convert offices to apartments post-pandemic

In a Q&A, Vincent Reina of the Weitzman School of Design discusses a new White House initiative to incentivize commercial-to-residential conversion projects, especially as the office market continues to struggle.

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