Last night the Department of Parks and Recreation and PennPraxis unveiled a new action plan for making the Benjamin Franklin Parkway a livelier civic space, as PlanPhilly's JoAnn Greco reports. Rather than focusing on long-term plans or high-cost projects More Park, Less Way: An Action Plan to Increase Urban Vibrancy on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway emphasizes a more granular menu of moves that can be executed within the next three years. Among them: Reshaping four underused spaces between Logan Circle and the Art Museum by adding amenities for leisure, active recreation, and play; creating flexible civic spaces for small-scale pop-up events and citywide celebrations; improving connectivity between Parkway spaces (and by extension neighborhoods); creating management structures to fund and program public spaces with activities around the clock and year-round for a diversity of users.
You can browse the report for yourself (plus this in-depth transportation addendum). Here is a look at More Park, Less Way by the numbers:
Ashley writes and edits Eyes on the Street. She has a special interest in preservation, neighborhoods, and all things public – from policy to art. Ashley holds masters degrees in City and Regional Planning and Historic Preservation from PennDesign.
Ashley has lived in 12 zip codes that she can think of, including neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York and Philadelphia. She is proud to call 19147 home.
Find Ashley on twitter @ashleyjhahn.
