philly, by design

what does a city do to address its vacany crisis?

this is the question posed by landvisions, a philadelphia-based design collaborative just beginning its third phase of international competition. though a problem shared by all major u.s. cities, urban sprawl in philadelphia has reached epidemic levels. according to the landvisions site, over 40,000 properties totalling 900 acres make philadelphia the highest per-capita vacancy rate. landvisions "sponsors invite participants to suggest compelling ideas for Philadelphia's vacant land and imagine fantastic long-term solutions that inspire change and reshape urban and natural forms throughout the city."

so far, the competition's phase I and II have comprised public meetings, map and photo collation, competitor briefings, and most recently, actual juried presentations from an international pool of individuals and firms. from here, 5 finalists were selected who best illustrate the aims of the competiton. their ideas include:

-a chain of open public/private spaces, an almost park-sprawl
-the raising the underground network of rivers and channels
-the introduction of public farmland, including fauna and flora
-a corridor of bike paths linking newly-healed spaces
-a complete urban reforestation of abandoned lots

i can't possibly begin to detail the minutia of the competition, but find below some of the major sites to access fantastic pictures, info, facts, figures, maps, links, etc etc etc. happy surfing!

urban voids -offical competition site

philadelphia landvisions -philadelphia-based sponsor of the competition

philadelphia green -an urban greening program of the pa horticultural society

neighborhood transformation initiative -the city's response to vacancy and other land issues

city parks association -manages philly's public recreation areas