7.14
Urban Planning
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.
‘Expanding what it means to be a class’
‘Expanding what it means to be a class’
Allison Lassiter, Randall Mason, Michael Luegering, Joshua Mosley, Richard Farley, and Michael Henry had to work quickly and creatively to shift their classes from a hands-on learning experience to a virtual one.
Cities and contagion: Lessons from COVID-19
Cities and contagion: Lessons from COVID-19
Penn IUR’s inaugural Cities and Contagion: Lessons from COVID-19 initiative brings together experts who can help interpret the pandemic’s implications for urbanization.
Using science to make cities safer and healthier
Using science to make cities safer and healthier
In a Q&A, criminologist John MacDonald discusses his new book, grounded in years of research on the positive effects of remediation like fixing up abandoned lots and houses.
Wading into Philly’s vacant land morass
Wading into Philly’s vacant land morass
Four students in the Weitzman School’s Department of City and Regional Planning are working to find suitable properties to rehabilitate with the Women’s Community Revitalization Project and the City of Philadelphia Department of Planning and Development.
Public scooters may soon zip through Philadelphia
Public scooters may soon zip through Philadelphia
The School of Design’s Megan Ryerson assisted with the city’s debate over the scooter as a safe and viable transportation alternative, as Pennsylvania assesses a bill to legalize electric scooters on public streets.
The future of urban waters
The future of urban waters
Students and faculty of the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities’ Liquid Histories course study the impact of rising sea levels from the banks of Philadelphia and Mumbai.
From urban renewal to today, tracking the struggles of America’s cities
From urban renewal to today, tracking the struggles of America’s cities
Equipped with SEPTA Key cards, Brent Cebul’s students are taking a deep dive into Philadelphia’s history, looking into the past and present challenges facing cities.
A plan to balance growth, quality housing, poverty, and construction for an entire city
A plan to balance growth, quality housing, poverty, and construction for an entire city
PennDesign’s Vincent Reina helped Philadelphia complete its first comprehensive housing plan.
In the News
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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WHYY (Philadelphia)
How Philly’s neighborhoods can help us understand pandemics
David Barnes of the School of Arts and Sciences, Eugenie Birch of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, and Susan Wachter of the Wharton School weighed in on how Philadelphia has historically handled epidemics, how these approaches have shaped the city over time, and what can be done now to manage COVID-19.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
E-scooters may be rolling into Pa., but are Philly streets prepared? Pro/Con
Megan Ryerson and Carrie Sauer of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design co-authored the pro-side of a debate over e-scooters in Philadelphia. They argued that concerns over scooter safety reveal a double-standard in the way car traffic is regulated.
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Times of India
Mumbai coastal road unlikely to solve traffic problems: Experts
Nikhil Anand of the School of Arts and Sciences said a planned coastal road project in Mumbai would not alleviate the region’s traffic problems.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
For some neighbors in opioid-plagued Kensington, a supervised injection site feels like giving up
Robert Fairbanks of the School of Arts and Sciences discussed Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. “Certainly, there’s a long history here, going back to the `70s, `80s, `90s — this perfect storm of factors that leads Kensington through white flight, deindustrialization, a dead real estate market,” said Fairbanks. “And the crack and heroin epidemic have all made an already desperate ecology even more desperate.”
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