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Reform Agenda for Planning and Design in Philadelphia
DAG Steering Committee Member George Claflen has led a taskforce analyzing the problems with Philadelphia's current system of planning and design review and providing an agenda for reform.
Reform Agenda 4/11/06
Current Philadelphia Development Projects
There has been increasing interest in the vast number of development projects, both planned and under construction throughout the city. At it's June meeting, a DAG volunteer taskforce made a presentation with two objectives. One was to show the extent of development, along with backup information about each project. That presentation was limited to the central city area and was compiled using information supplied by the Center City District. The second was a set of questions (Evaluation Tool) to be used by individuals as well as community groups to determine for themselves what they think about a project, particularly, one which may affect them directly.
The Task Force consisted of Ed Bronstein, George Claflen, Tim Kerner, and James Templeton. Additional help in developing the Evaluation Tool and the Glossary of Terms was provided by Linda Dottor.
Urban Design Evaluation Tool and Glossary of Terms
Op-Ed Article Published in The Philadelphia Inquirer
Listing of Current and Proposed Center City Development Projects - August, 2005
Jefferson Parking Garage
Gaming in Pennsylvania
Shorty after the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed enabling legislation in July 2004 allowing for the establishment of slot parlors in the state, DAG formed a gaming task force to understand the physical implication of the law. The task force wrote and published principles for the siting and design of these parlors as well as a proposed site selection process. In addition, DAG worked with the Pittsburgh Riverlife Task Force on a cross-state initiative to publish DAG's gaming principles. DAG participated on panels as part of a series of public gaming forums hosted by the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitor's Bureau and CoreNet Global and members of the gaming task force have advised the site selection committee of Philadelphia Mayor John Street's Gaming Task Force.
Franklin Conference on School Design
DAG is a partner with Penn Praxis of the School of Design at Penn, the Center for School Study Councils at Penn's Graduate School of Education and the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer on a series of public forums to address the School District of Philadelphia's proposed $1.6B capital improvement program. This series includes city-wide forums to elicit citizen-dervied planning principles and a design charrette to test the principles on three emblematic sites. The results will be published in the June 19, 2005 Currents section of the Sunday Inquirer. The School District of Philadelphia is a partner in this project with support coming from the William Penn Foundation and the Penn Institute for Urban Research.
Penn's Landing Forum
Following the August 2002 withdrawal of the Simon Property Group's plans to develop an entertainment complex on the Philadelphia waterfront at Penn's Landing, Penn Praxis of the School of Design at Penn and the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer partnered to host a series of public forums on the future of the waterfront. DAG played an active role in the forums by organizing a design charrette putting forth alternative visions and uses for the site. The project received a 2003 Honor Award from AIA Pennsylvania and the 2004 Clearwater Award from the Waterfront Center.
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