Art & Design A Monumental Shift At Dilworth Park Olin’s design for Dilworth Park gives Philadelphia what it has long struggled for: a suitably grand approach to the monumental City Hall, says Hidden City co-editor Nathaniel Popkin. Here’s his review of the park, now essentially complete
Architecture Dilworth Park, On Balance The new Dilworth Park at City Hall has drawn a considerable amount of criticism since opening last week. Despite a few misgivings, Michael Bixler thinks that there may be a silver lining: inclusive, public appeal
Development Official “Marriage” Of Reading Viaduct Advocates The decade-old Reading Viaduct Project will merge with Friends of the Rail Park to help manage the first phase of the park, set for construction next year, and to work toward the vision of a combined elevated-submerged three mile linear park
Art & Design Parking On Eakins Oval To Go Finally In Parkway Shift Will small interventions add up? Four underutilized public spaces to be transformed according to a new plan unveiled last night. Yesterday Greg Meckstroth caught up with parks commissioner Michael DiBerardinis for insight into the plan, which was unveiled last night
Urbanism If The Parkway Were A Pizza, It’d Be Awfully Plain The Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the city’s most prominent “institutional ghetto,” is at a key juncture says urban designer Greg Meckstroth. An “action plan” being crafted by the City will create some liveliness, but more transformational investment is ultimately needed
Art & Design In Wash West, A “No Waste Zone” Brewing Sick of his trash-filled alley and inspired by the way European cities handle waste, McGillin’s Olde Ale House owner Chris Mullins hopes to gain support for a project he’s calling “Drury Street Green”
Development You Can Feel The Difference If confidence has seeped into our civic conversation, there is a very real reason, says Nathaniel Popkin: continued growth
History From A Corner of Center City, The Source Of Light John Vidumsky discovers the people and the places behind the birth of electric light in America–at the heart of it the inimitable John Wanamaker and a brilliant inventor named Charles Brush whose power station, the first in Philadelphia, is still in use today