4/16
Urban Planning
Unlocking the potential of ‘smart’ water in responding to climate change
Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning Allison Lassiter researches unlocking the potential of ‘smart’ water in responding to climate change.
After the shutdown, what comes next for the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery?
Creating a greener, more equitable future at the site means understanding its complex history, its long-running public health impacts, and working in partnership with communities.
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.
Public schools, COVID-19, and addressing education’s aging infrastructure
Urban planners and architects are working to address one of the many challenges faced by public schools by designing healthy and engaging outdoor educational spaces.
With OurPlan, Weitzman team pilots new data tool for neighborhood democracy
A team of Weitzman scholars designed OurPlan to give residents of West Philadelphia a voice in planning and preservation.
Answering ‘How will we live together?’ at the Venice Biennale
After more than a year of delays, Penn faculty and students were able to participate in La Biennale di Venezia architectural exhibition with both virtual and physical submissions.
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.
Protecting and celebrating civil rights heritage and Black histories
Launched last fall, Penn’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights sites is fostering new and ongoing partnerships while preserving the legacy of civil rights in the U.S.
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.’
Urban renewal, community activism, and green spaces in Historic Germantown
As part of a Summer Humanities Internship, rising junior Leo Wagner conducted research on community responses to infrastructure projects in the mid-20th century and how the member sites are currently using their green spaces.
In the News
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’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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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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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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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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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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