Contributing to Quality of Life:
Anchoring
Author: Marilyn Higgins
Organization: Near Westside Initiative (NWSI)
Program: SALT District
Location: Syracuse, NY
At a Glance
The Near Westside Initiative (NWSI) improves the quality of life of residents living in
the Syracuse Art, Literacy, and Technology (SALT) District—a diverse, post-industrial, impoverished
neighborhood bordering downtown Syracuse, New York—by channeling the human
and capital resources of the area’s anchor institution, Syracuse University (SU), toward
various arts and culture initiatives. Through engaged scholarship, innovative design practices,
and community coalition-building during the past seven years, the NWSI has reinvigorated
the local economy and fostered greater appreciation for the arts among residents. It has
raised $74 million in new investment, renovated and leased more than 350,000 square feet of
abandoned warehouse space, built a Latino cultural center, and brought more than 300 new
jobs to the neighborhood.
Overview
The SALT District is a creative, rapidly revitalizing neighborhood bordering the Armory
Square District of downtown Syracuse, New York, approximately 1.5 miles from the SU
campus. In 2007, the university created the nonprofit NWSI, with support from the Gifford
Foundation, Home Headquarters, Inc., the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Energy and Environmental
Systems (COE), and a coalition of neighborhood residents and business partners.
The mission of the NWSI is to use the power of art, technology, and innovation, together
with neighborhood values and culture, to revitalize this diverse post-industrial, impoverished
area. The NWSI’s approach capitalizes on the intellectual and creative resources of SU to
improve the quality of life of area residents. From bilingual magazines and newspapers to
crime prevention networks, neighborhood nutrition services, and new playground equipment,
the NWSI has touched on and improved almost every facet of neighborhood life.
Context for Creative Placemaking
Syracuse’s Near Westside has a rich multicultural base with 42 percent of residents identifying
as African Americans, 31 percent Caucasian, and 23 percent Hispanic/Latino. Of the
3,300 residents, one-in-five are physically or mentally disabled, and one-half have incomes
below the poverty line. The rate of homeownership is 19 percent, up from 13 percent seven years ago, and unemployment is 52 percent. A century-old dilapidated public school stands
in the center of the neighborhood, which is also home to a large public housing project and
many social service agencies. Highway construction in the 1960s demolished the neighborhood’s
business district. The subsequent five decades saw no significant private investment,
with the exception of the conversion of the Delevan Center, a turn-of-the-century warehouse,
into a gallery and studios for 30 working artists. This creative asset, along with an independent
grocery store, an activist Catholic Church, and a small band of committed long-time
homeowners, composed the Near Westside’s primary assets when work on the NWSI began.
How Creative Placemaking Helps
The NWSI board of directors believes that, with the commitment of an anchor institution,
art and neighborhood culture can unite to create a revitalized community. The board’s
creative placemaking approach was influenced in part by the relocation of university faculty
and students dedicated to architecture, art, and design to a building adjacent to the SALT
District.
From the outset, the NWSI adopted a nontraditional operating model. The initiative was
designed to harness, not duplicate, the collective energy and resources of Syracuse University,
local and state government, and existing best-in-class organizations. Residents were
asked to serve on the NWSI board to ensure that the community would remain at the heart
of the decision-making structure. In the NWSI’s first five years, the university dedicated one
full-time staff person to the effort. SU’s Office of Community Engagement and Economic
Development (CEED) manages the overall redevelopment initiative, forms the campus/
neighborhood teams to work on projects, and leads the redevelopment of vacant commercial
structures along with an active board of directors and more than a dozen local, state,
and national partners.
Implementation
Success in the SALT District involves engaged scholarship, innovative design, and the
synergy of unlikely coalitions. This combination anchors the NWSI’s work in the community
while providing rich academic experiences for university students.
Engaged scholarship, for example, resulted in a former crack house being transformed
into a neighborhood art center by students and faculty through a course entitled “Social
Sculpture.” The course began with a professor inviting residents to join her students to
share their stories and memories of the building. Abandoned telephone booths in the
neighborhood have become well-stocked free libraries with resident “curators” through a
partnership of Library Science and Industrial Design faculty, neighborhood residents, and
university students. A professor of writing helped neighbors create their own “Gifford Street
Press,” which publishes books on controversial topics such as community/police relations.
The neighborhood’s first bilingual monthly newspaper is now mailed to every home in the neighborhood. A nationally recognized watercolorist and SU professor of art brought her
students together with neighborhood sixth graders to paint portraits of their neighborhood
and publish their work. Communications/Design faculty and students worked with residents
to rebrand the Near Westside as the SALT District and develop the community’s logo
and website. Engaged scholarship has created rich learning experiences for SU students,
signaling change to residents and made the Near Westside a place to expect the unexpected.
Innovative design was introduced to the neighborhood by the SU School of Architecture
and involves, in most instances, green design informed by the Center of Excellence in
Energy. An international competition to design green homes to fit the scale and character
of the neighborhood resulted in the construction of family residences, a feature in Dwell
magazine, coverage in the Wall Street Journal, and the decision by several business owners to
relocate to the neighborhood and purchase the homes. A design professor and artisan from
the neighborhood created a new green process to manufacture unique cast iron skillets. The
NWSI is the recipient of the 2014 Richard M. Daley Legacy Award for Global Leadership in
Creating Sustainable Cities for these practices.
Progress to Date
The first major public art project of the NWSI was the installation of a dozen giant selfportraits
of neighborhood children on the boarded-up windows of the abandoned warehouse
at the entrance to the neighborhood. Created by photographer Stephen Mahan, this project
juxtaposed aspirational self-portraits of children against the most visible sign of blight.
In 2009, the creation of another dramatic public art installation facilitated neighborhood
dialogue and visually disrupted the barrier between the neighborhood and downtown.
Artist Steve Powers painted his “Love Letter to Syracuse” on three large rusted elevated train
trestles that loomed forebodingly over the intersection of the two neighborhoods. Powers
drew his inspiration from going door to door to ask people simple questions, which led to
profound statements about the struggles of daily life and the simple joys that take place in
the Near Westside. This dialogue established a pattern of conversation between residents
and artists that continues to this day, and contributes to the success of the SALTQUARTERS
artist-in-residence program.
Another project, “The Talent Agency,” created by two faculty members who live in the
neighborhood, has deepened this dialogue. Their project enables neighborhood youth to
create public art on vacant lots and simultaneously develop portfolios for entrance to art
schools and colleges.
During the past seven years, the NWSI has raised $74 million in new investment, renovated
and leased more than 350,000 square feet of abandoned warehouse space, and
attracted seven new employers, 40 new households, the city’s first Latino cultural center,
dozens of artists, and 308 new jobs to the neighborhood. Forty-six faculty and 975 students
have infused the university’s academic expertise in the areas of art, design, green technology,
architecture, and communication into the neighborhood, revitalizing formerly vacant lots, boarded-up homes, and abandoned warehouses. The region’s public broadcasting station
has relocated to the SALT District, as has the nation’s largest literacy organization.
The premise that art and neighborhood culture can unite to create a revitalized community
with the commitment of an anchor institution is proving to be true in Syracuse’s SALT
District. Resident associations, community gardens, parks, schools, job training, and social
networks have all been strengthened as a result.
Marilyn Higgins is responsible for the Connective Corridor and the Near Westside Initiative, (or SALT
District); two multi-million dollar urban redevelopment projects that serve as platforms for engaged,
interdisciplinary scholarship at Syracuse University. She is a founder and principal architect of the Nearwest
Side Initiative, Inc., a nonprofit development corporation revitalizing one of the poorest census
tracts in the nation. Ms. Higgins also leads a collaborative effort with the university, Onondaga County
and the City of Syracuse to create the Connective Corridor; a signature strip of urban streetscape linking
University Hill to downtown Syracuse. Prior to her position at Syracuse University, Ms. Higgins was
vice president of economic development for National Grid where she was responsible for attracting new
business investment and jobs into the corporation’s thirty-seven county, upstate New York service territory.
* * *
Contributing to Quality of Life:
Activating
Author: Bruce Farnsworth
Organization: Light Brigade
Program: Follow the Light
Location: Anchorage, AK
At a Glance
The Light Brigade is a collective of independent artists based in Anchorage, Alaska, that
designs and executes multimedia urban art interventions in the built and natural environment.
Its work is site-specific and almost always ephemeral, occurring in most cases only
once. Members of the Light Brigade work collaboratively according to an agreed-on dogma
that eschews standard theatrical hierarchies and titles, aiming to improve the quality of life
of the citizens of Anchorage by “activating” their surroundings in creative and challenging
ways. Maintaining its artistic focus on themes of special interest to northern dwellers, the
Light Brigade, with the support of the Anchorage Park Foundation (APF) and other partners,
planned a large-scale, month-long sculptural installation and multimedia performance series
in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the city of Anchorage, culminating in January 2015.
Overview
A growing interest on the part of audiences for opportunities to enjoy art and culture in
nontraditional settings inspired the Light Brigade to consider how people might approach the
arts differently. In the past, artists have depended on traditional arts organizations because of
their monopoly on access to venues, equipment, audience and subscriber lists, and donors.
However, the multidisciplinary tools employed by the Light Brigade—recording, projecting,
broadcasting, amplifying, lighting—have become so inexpensive during the past decade that
minimally and intermittently funded arts groups now have broad access to them. This encouraged
the Light Brigade to bring art to the public in new and unexpected ways. The Light
Brigade empowers the citizens of Anchorage by planning, designing, and executing creative,
time-based interventions to activate the local landscape and built-environment using the full
assortment of tools that its consortium members possess—dance, lighting, illusion, visual and
sonic media, augmented reality, and poetry. The Light Brigade’s installations change how
audiences relate to their everyday surroundings, which during the long, dark winter months
can challenge the resilience of visitors and life-long Anchorage residents alike.
Context for Creative Placemaking
With its increasingly diverse population of 300,000 residents, Anchorage is by far the youngest city of its size in the United States. Like many Western cities, the community’s
economy depends largely on the extraction of natural resources, with its patterns of economic
boom and bust and dramatic fluctuations in the population. Policy and business leaders have
only recently begun to embrace economic development strategies that look beyond resource
extraction, and they have yet to advocate fully for economic and environmental diversification.
Progress is slowly being made, however. Community leaders and development entities
are starting to acknowledge the role that the arts can play in reimagining how natural and
social resources can be leveraged to promote prosperity. For example, the Light Brigade’s
work has been designated by the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation as part of
a new class of community-born assets, citing creative placemaking as one of its seven major
areas of focus for community change.
How Creative Placemaking Helps
The Light Brigade has two principal goals. The first is to set the course of Anchorage’s
next 100 years by helping it become a fully mature winter city, like its vibrant sister cities in
the circumpolar north—Oslo, Stockholm, and Alberta. For the Light Brigade, this involves
creating opportunities for Anchorage residents to gather in large groups outdoors to celebrate
their northern identity. The other goal is premised on the belief that a city’s artists set the
tone for how the community defines its aspirations, and that business and policy leaders can
provide the infrastructure for making those aspirations manifest.
Implementation
Pursuing effective, lasting partnerships is an integral part of the Light Brigade’s mission.
To this end, the group has nurtured relationships with leaders of many influential institutions
whose advocacy, permission, and cooperation are required to carry out the Light Brigade’s
vision. The Light Brigade’s main fiscal partner is the Anchorage Park Foundation, and in
recent years the group has engaged the Railroad Corporation, the University of Alaska, the
Anchorage Museum, the Rasmuson Foundation, the Anchorage Economic Development
Corporation, and the Municipality of Anchorage itself. The Light Brigade has staged multimedia
interventions of various sizes in downtown Anchorage, the Ship Creek neighborhood,
the Spenard neighborhood, and in the Anton Anderson Memorial Railroad Tunnel.
The largest and most ambitious one-time-only, site-specific work was called Over Beyond
Across Through (OBAT), which occurred on the exterior of the recently renovated Anchorage
Museum. A diverse crowd of 5,000 people filled the museum’s front lawn and courtyard on a
late-September night in 2013 to view the performance, which consisted of an original work of
“expanded cinema,” incorporating video imagery and animation projected on the museum’s
highly reflective surface. Twenty dancers, some suspended in harnesses, engaged in an art
form known as “urban aerial dance” on the museum’s glass and steel walls. Others danced on
three tiers of decks that the Light Brigade had constructed at the edges of the museum’s rooftops. The dance element of the performance interacted with the projection piece through
the use of real-time, movement-activated technology, which was controlled onsite by the
Light Brigade’s technical team. The piece was driven by an original musical soundscape
composed by one of the Light Brigade’s artistic collaborators. Since OBAT, the Light Brigade
has observed an increased tendency of the museum to offer programming on its outdoor
lawn and courtyard. This past winter, for example, the museum screened a movie outdoors in
February, and in the summer, it staged several events on the museum lawn.
OBAT took nearly two years to create and required the participation of more than 75
local artists, designers, filmmakers, programmers, technicians, riggers, and stagehands, not
to mention the many museum staff members who contributed enormous amounts of their
time and energy. Its total budget was $129,000, and nearly all of it was spent in the local
economy, putting money in the hands of artists and local businesses. The Light Brigade spent
a considerable sum on material and equipment rentals, all acquired locally with the exception
of about $1,200 worth of specialized climbing rope, which staff members could not procure
in town.
Progress to Date
Follow the Light is a large-scale light sculpture installed along the flowing contours of a
historic and popular downtown park, and will be activated by a series of performances that
are free and open to the public. Thousands of residents and visitors will experience the installation
and events held within it during the winter of 2014/2015. This large-scale light sculpture
and outdoor performance space will illuminate the far west end of the downtown area.
Installation includes temporary decks to support performers, and projection screens of fabric,
snow, and ice. Follow the Light is both longer in duration than OBAT and contains a more
robust evaluation component than previous installations. Among other techniques used to
document effects on and around the chosen site, the Light Brigade mounted a time-lapse
camera one month prior to the launch of the project that remained in place for the duration
of the month-long installation and for an additional month following the instillation’s activation.
Through such efforts, the Light Brigade hopes to contribute something useful to the
ongoing conversation about how best to assess the positive effects of activating public space.
Bruce Farnsworth is an Anchorage-based writer, community organizer, and founding member of the art
group Light Brigade. Previously, Fransworth founded and directed the MTS Gallery in Anchorage from
2005 through 2011. During that time MTS hosted a renowned program of monthly cutting edge visual
art exhibitions and performance art work by both local and visiting or invited artists from around the
state and the world. In 2011, Farnsworth was the recipient of the first ever “President’s Award” from
the Rasmuson Foundation, an award created by the foundation’s president and CEO to honor his work
in neighborhood revitalization through the arts.
* * *
Contributing to Quality of Life:
“Fixing”
Author: Joseph Kunkel
Organization: Santo Domingo Planning Department (SDPD);
Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority (SDTHA)
Program: The Santo Domingo Heritage Trail Arts Project
Location: Santo Domingo Pueblo, NM
At a Glance
The Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority (SDTHA), in partnership with the Santo
Domingo Planning Department (SDPD), preserves and promotes the culture of Pueblo
Country—located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It seeks to expand the
local economy of Santo Domingo Pueblo, the capital of the 19 Pueblos, and make key
improvements to existing infrastructure. In 2012, with the support of the SDTHA and other
local partners, SDPD began planning a 1.5-mile walking trail with intermittent stations that
showcase artwork and design projects from Santo Domingo’s Native American artists and artisans.
Residents were encouraged to contribute at every stage of development, from planning
and design to construction. The trail is an essential component of a larger community development
project linking housing developments with community- and government-sponsored
tribal programs, building cohesion and pride of place among the 19 Pueblo communities.
Overview
In 2012, the Santo Domingo Planning Department (SDPD) was awarded an Our Town
grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to develop a framework for a cultural
district and to create an overall community master plan that capitalizes on arts-based economies.
This framework highlighted existing economic assets while focusing on potential future
development of the area’s community and culture. At the same time, the Santo Domingo
Tribal Housing Authority (SDTHA) and SDPD collaborated to host an Enterprise Rose
Architectural Fellow (ERAF) to address issues of affordable housing and community engagement
and to explore how design can positively affect community, culture, and place. In
January 2013, the SDTHA, SDPD, and ERAF reached out to local community artists for
input on community arts projects along a proposed 1.5-mile trail. The Santo Domingo Heritage
Trail Arts Project is the culmination of these efforts. Through the creative arts, it aims to
preserve the Santo Domingo Pueblo’s culture of place while distinguishing Santo Domingo
as the capital of the 19 Pueblos.
Context for Creative Placemaking
The Pueblo of Santo Domingo (also known as Kewa Pueblo) is located between Albuquerque
and Santa Fe, along major historic and contemporary trade routes, which date back
to the early 1920s. Serving as the capital of the 19 Pueblos, Santo Domingo is home to
approximately 5,100 tribal members, with more than one-half of its population still living
within the historic pueblo village and surrounding areas. Santo Domingo was a major stop
along the famed Route 66 Highway, where local artists sold and traded traditional heishi
jewelry, turquoise jewelry, and pueblo pottery. To this day, the community boasts a tradition
and culture of creativity that contributes significantly to its economy. Even so, as of 2012
more than 30 percent of Santo Domingo’s residents were living below the poverty line, and
23 percent were unemployed.
How Creative Placemaking Helps
Since work on the Heritage Trail began, Santo Domingo has experienced a period of
renewal and growth, drawing support from outside the community and from within. Strong
tribal leadership on cultural preservation has largely made this possible, resulting in a range
of community-centric, place-based projects focused on positive and creative social change.
The projects range from master-planning efforts that integrate the rehabilitation of the
old historic pueblo core, to the development of culturally appropriate affordable housing.
Because more than two-thirds of the community consider themselves artists, makers, and
doers, it is both practical and fitting that future development should be based around the
creative arts and creative placemaking.
Implementation
During 2015, the SDTHA and Heritage Trail Planning Committee will select up to 11
local Santo Domingo Artists to design and construct a series of art interventions along the
1.5-mile segment of the Heritage Trail. The planning committee is composed of an architect,
a landscape architect, a national artist, a local artist, community members, and a project
manager. This small committee will help guide and mentor local artists in their conceptual
thinking, visioning, and implementing art interventions. Working with the community and
various partners, the planning committee will also develop a unified narrative throughout
the trail; each art intervention will have its own unique identity while fitting into a larger,
cohesive whole. The interventions will take shape either as an observation platform, rest area,
or designated stopping point, heightening the pedestrian’s experience both on and off the
trail. The section of the trail dedicated to art installations is a major focal point of the project,
but SDTHA and SDPD will also develop the remaining mile-long stretch of road, providing
pedestrians with a safe place to walk, run, or bike.
The Heritage Trail project is an essential component of a larger community development
process. Through careful planning, the SDTHA and SDPD have proposed a network of walking trails to connect new housing developments with community- and governmentsponsored
tribal programs and with public transportation. Through this process, the SDTHA
and SDPD engaged various organizations and members of the community, including the
Santo Domingo Tribal Council, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, the Santa
Fe Art Institute, and Santo Domingo Natural Resources. Developing sustained relationships
with these entities has allowed for inclusive, open dialogue that has given each vested party
a sense of ownership, providing a forum for constructive criticism at every stage of the planning
process.
Progress to Date
Since starting this project, the SDTHA and SDPD have continued to build stronger
relationships with local organizations. The Santa Fe Art Institute has dedicated a summer
design-build studio to investigate how a seating and shelter prototype might influence how
individuals experience a large natural landscape. This partnership also allows for local youth
to participate in the design and construction of permanent objects along the trail. This helps
broaden the impact of those affected by the artists’ work, transferring a sense of ownership
and pride to the community. The SDTHA and SDPD hope to set a precedent for other
tribal communities to explore how art, culture, and place can invigorate future growth in
their communities.
In 2015, open dialogue with the various partners, tribal programs, and community
members will help establish standards through which the SDTHA and SDPD can measure
the project’s overall success. The most important factor is how the community relates with
and supports the project as it continues to grow. Identifying which populations will be
affected most is critical to understanding who will use the trail to access the Rail Runner for
public transportation, who will use it for recreation purposes, and how the trail will appeal
to both local artists and their colleagues from surrounding communities. SDTHA will gather
survey data during construction to help meet the specific needs of populations who will use
the trail. Once the trail is completed, SDTHA will make the survey data public in an effort to
promote community-building elsewhere.
Joseph Kunkel is an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow currently working directly with the Sustainable
Native Communities Collaborative (SNCC), and the Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority.
His most recent focus with SNCC has been to help research and showcase exemplary Native American
housing nationwide, and to build and develop emerging best practices. His professional career has
centered on community-based educational design. His work ranges from material research and fabrication
to community-based planning, design and development. Joseph is currently working on a Cultural
District Plan at Santo Domingo Tribe, funded by an a National Endowments for the Arts Our Town
grant, which has led to an ArtPlace America grant award. This award will fund multiple arts project
tying together two new affordable housing developments on the Santo Domingo Pueblo.
* * *
Contributing to Quality of Life:
Planning
Author: Prema Gupta
Organization: University City District (UCD)
Program: The Porch at 30th Street Station
Location: West Philadelphia, PA
At a Glance
The Porch at 30th Street Station (The Porch), developed and maintained by the nonprofit
University City District (UCD), provides residents of the University City area of West Philadelphia
a unique public space to sit, socialize, read, stroll, or take in magnificent views of
the Center City skyline. UCD rigorously charts how its 20,000 daily users interact with the
site, and periodically modifies The Porch’s configurable planters and landscaping, amenities,
concessions, and arts programming to fit the community’s ever-changing needs and desires.
Delivering a public space that is perpetually in tune with its users improves their quality of
life by seamlessly integrating the arts into their daily routines.
Overview
University City District (UCD) is a nonprofit partnership of world-renowned anchor
institutions, small businesses, and residents that creates opportunity, improves economic
vitality, and raises quality of life standards in the University City area of West Philadelphia.
Its primary mission is community revitalization; UCD works within a place-based, datadriven
framework to invest in world-class public spaces, address crime and public safety,
bring life to commercial corridors, connect low-income residents to careers, and promote
job growth and innovation.
In April 2011, UCD seized on a rare opportunity. Earlier that year the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation created a 55’ x 500’ stretch of sidewalk where 33 parallel parking
spaces had previously abutted. UCD wagered that adequate demand existed at the location
for a vibrant and engaging public space. In November of that year, UCD unveiled The Porch,
which provides the 20,000 pedestrians who pass through the site daily a safe environment
to sit, read, stroll, socialize, or take in magnificent views of the Schuylkill River and the Center
City skyline. UCD envisions The Porch evolving into an iconic, inviting, and beloved public
space that is both attractive to visitors to West Philadelphia and a source of civic pride for area
locals. UCD is currently planning an extensive redesign, redevelopment, and expansion of the
site that will include robust arts and music programming.
Context for Creative Placemaking
Philadelphia’s University City is the region’s leader in education, science, and innovation,
with highly esteemed universities and medical institutions. It is a destination for food
lovers and culture seekers, with internationally acclaimed dining, museums, and galleries.
University City’s arts and cultural organizations are some of the fastest growing in the region,
and the neighborhood houses numerous performance spaces of all sizes in museums and
galleries, hosting artists and festivals regularly. The Porch plays an important role in attracting
both artists and audiences. Once a congested parking lane and bland, barren sidewalk, The
Porch has quickly become one of the most animated public places in Philadelphia. It sits
adjacent to the second busiest train station in the country, between two magnificent historic
buildings and within a short walk to more than 16,000 jobs, and serves as a key gateway to
the region.
How Creative Placemaking Helps
Early in the development process, UCD adopted a novel approach to achieve its goals
for The Porch. When designing a new park, an architect or landscape artist will typically be
hired before the site or budget is established. The assumption is that the designer will understand
potential users’ needs and behaviors first, and execute a design tailored to those needs.
Drawing on a rigorous study of site use patterns using a method inspired by urban sociologist
William “Holly” Whyte, The Porch evolves iteratively in response to user behavior.
The physical interventions at the site in 2011—the “hardware”—were basic. The space
was divided into a series of outdoor rooms bounded by trees and umbrellas. High-quality
seasonal plantings were used because large planters were cost-prohibitive. Agricultural
feeding troughs were repurposed with green roof technology to create large, economical
planters with trees to filter traffic noise and foster a hospitable pedestrian environment.
Movable tables and chairs were added to allow users maximum flexibility in choosing where
to sit in relation to the space, other people, and the sun.
To attract new users, UCD also made a sizable investment in the site’s “software,” or
programming: farmers markets, yoga classes, musical performances, and concerts of
different scales; food truck events; and a beer garden, among others. Using this approach,
UCD effectively “beta tested” the public space, experimenting with a variety of physical
configurations and programming to determine what would best attract people to the space
before making permanent capital changes.
Implementation
The first iteration of The Porch cost $350,000 to design and build, with subsequent yearly
maintenance costs of $150,000 that included a variety of programs, horticulture, security,
cleaning, and site modifications. The Porch is arguably the most rigorously observed and
analyzed public space in the country. The Porch concierge walks the site hourly, mapping and noting activity. Are users eating, talking, or participating in programming? Are users
evenly divided between male and female? Are they sitting in the sun or the shade? This
information is added to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and allows UCD to observe,
analyze, and evaluate use patterns and make small changes. These observations continually
inform the long-term redesign of the space, as well as short-term decisions relating to its
programming, maintenance, and stewardship. For example, after testing a farmers market,
UCD concluded that it was not successful and replaced it with a food truck event.
Before selecting a landscape architect to design the second iteration of The Porch, UCD
identified a tentative set of design elements, furnishings, and amenities that included a
planted buffer, food kiosk(s), large flexible space for destination programming, adjustable
shade structures, and continued use of movable tables and chairs—all informed by observations.
For example, UCD has graphed the percentage of users who sit in the shade by
the temperature. Although the general conclusion is obvious, UCD will be able to push its
design team to develop flexible shade structures with mathematical precision, based on
observed behavior at the site. UCD selected a Philadelphia-based design team—landscape
architect Studio Bryan Hanes and architecture firm DIGSAU3—to redesign The Porch. Rebar,
an artist collective from San Francisco, was recently added to the design team to develop,
fabricate, and install a piece of functional art.
Progress to Date
During the past eighteen months, UCD has demonstrated that iconic, inviting, animated
public spaces can substantially improve the quality of life of the communities they serve.
Given the vast unmet need for pedestrian amenities, as well as a fiscal climate that restricts
public funding for large capital-intensive public space projects, UCD believes an iterative,
user-based approach is the ideal way to develop new parks and pedestrian amenities.
Prema Katari Gupta is University City District’s director of planning and economic development, where
is responsible for the development and stewardship of public spaces, bike/ped improvements, public art,
business attraction and retention, transportation management, sustainability, and market research. She
has worked in real estate at PIDC, the City of Philadelphia’s economic development authority, and at
the Urban Land Institute, where she authored a book on placemaking in mixed-use development. Prema
is a graduate of Bowdoin College and has a master’s degree from University of Pennsylvania School of
Design and a certificate in real estate from the Wharton School.