For Immediate Release
Community Design Collaborative Launches Design-Oriented Approach to Building Sustainable Urban Communities
Neighborhood commercial corridors to be first focus of new design initiative
Philadelphia, PA - January 12, 2007 - Driven by the philosophy that design matters in every neighborhood, the Community Design Collaborative announces the launch of Infill Philadelphia, a five-year, three-phase initiative created to promote workable solutions for infill development, a common challenge posed by community development, through innovative design.
Infill Philadelphia, which will tackle challenging project sites throughout the city by pairing design firms with community-based organizations, officially launches Thursday, January 18, with a kick-off event at PNC Bank, 1600 Market Street, 3rd Floor, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. In addition to launching Infill Philadelphia, the event will introduce Commercial Corridors, the first phase of Infill Philadelphia funded by an 18-month, $175,000 grant from the William Penn Foundation and supported through a partnership with Philadelphia Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a leading expert in the area of commercial corridor development. The three participating design firms and community-based organizations, project sites, and the jury who will review the designs will also be announced.
Infill Philadelphia, which includes both land and building development, brings new uses to older, often obsolete spaces by re-thinking their utility, purpose, and the needs of local residents. The initiative will demonstrate the possibilities for designing inventively to respond to the context of existing urban neighborhoods. The designs produced as a result of this initiative will help older communities re-envision the appearance of their neighborhoods and leverage their existing physical assets in order to spark community reinvestment.
"The initiative will produce fresh solutions to persistent challenges surrounding urban revitalization," said Beth Miller, Executive Director, Community Design Collaborative. "This is a great opportunity for the design community to lend its voice and expertise to add vitality to Philadelphia neighborhoods and help knit communities back together." - more - Commercial corridors are neighborhood streets that offer surrounding communities easy access to shopping, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. "As insiders in the field are quickly realizing, commercial corridors are truly a pulse point of strong neighborhoods", said Mark Edwards, Program Director, Philadelphia LISC. "Both LISC and the Collaborative view these corridors as critical "zippers" - binding neighborhoods together and keeping residents' and businesses' dollars local."
The launch of Infill Philadelphia: Commercial Corridors coincides with broader plans to step up commercial corridor revitalization, such as the city's ReStore Philadelphia Corridors initiative. ReStore Philadelphia Corridors will use $65 million from the recently approved Cultural and Commercial Corridors bond and leverage other local, state, and federal resources to improve streetscapes and eliminate blight, assist well-designed commercial and mixed-use development, expand local shopping options and also support corridor improvement efforts by business associations and community-based non-profit organizations.
"Vibrant commercial corridors are the heart of sustainable neighborhoods," says Eva Gladstein, Philadelphia's Director of Neighborhood Transformation and a member of the Infill Philadelphia Commercial Corridors jury. "Residents want the accessibility of goods and services without having to leave their neighborhood. The City's ReStore Philadelphia Corridors initiative creates an opportunity to attract and retain businesses while helping to re-establish the historic role of commercial corridors as central places to shop, work and meet neighbors."
Three volunteer design firms have signed on and will tackle three projects critical to spurring commercial corridor development in three Philadelphia neighborhoods. They will closely partner with three community-based organizations to create concepts that respond to each site's specific requirements, including enhancing a corridor gateway, reusing a vacant theater, and expanding a local bar into a full service restaurant. The designs produced will not only deal with physical assets and aesthetics, but also address social and economic issues and the interests of residents.
To ensure the teams deliver realizable solutions, a jury of experts with diverse experiences and perspectives will review the projects. Following commercial corridors, each subsequent phase will focus on a specific type of infill development.
"It is our hope that the collaborations fostered through Infill Philadelphia will encourage stakeholders to support new approaches to community revitalization, get innovative projects funded and make Philadelphia - a city known for its neighborhoods - stronger," said Miller.
For more information:
Susan Prior, 215.209.3077
susan@sage-communications.com
