Skip to Content Skip to Content

Urban Planning

Wading into Philly’s vacant land morass
A vacant lot between rowhouses in Philadelphia

A lot in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, Philadelphia. (Photo: Katie Levesque)

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.

Penn Today Staff

Public scooters may soon zip through Philadelphia
two scooters parked next to a bike rack with bikes parked on a sidewalk

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.

Penn Today Staff

The future of urban waters
Rising Waters fellows in Mumbai in January

Rising Waters fellows in Mumbai in January (Photo credit: Photography Promotion Trust)

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.

Penn Today Staff

From urban renewal to today, tracking the struggles of America’s cities
Penn history professor Brent Cebul working with students on wall maps.

With help from the Penn Libraries' staff, Cebul and his students worked with maps in an electronic classroom in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. 

Image: Eric Sucar

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.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

Scooter companies hope to be street legal in Pennsylvania by summer
Philadelphia Inquirer

Scooter companies hope to be street legal in Pennsylvania by summer

The School of Design’s Megan Ryerson said the popularization of shared scooters could make everyone’s commutes safer by increasing drivers’ awareness and a resulting demand for protected bike lanes. “When we give Philadelphians access to safe and affordable alternatives for transportation, they will use them,” she said.

Truck traffic is clogging Center City streets. What’s Philly going to do about it?
Philadelphia Inquirer

Truck traffic is clogging Center City streets. What’s Philly going to do about it?

The School of Design’s Erick Guerra discussed the issue of delivery trucks blocking major streets in Philadelphia. “One of the big first steps is closely analyzing and understanding the problem,” he said. “I’m not sure that’s quite been done yet.”

Fine arts professor marries art and science on the Schuylkill River banks
Deirdre Murphy Schuylkill River

Deirdre Murphy, a “toolmaker” for the Ecotopian Toolkit project as part of the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities, examines the banks of the Schuylkill River.

Fine arts professor marries art and science on the Schuylkill River banks

Fine Arts lecturer Deirdre Murphy answered a call for artists for Penn's Ecotopian Toolkit project with a piece based on the migratory patterns of birds on the Schuylkill River, right in her backyard.