Vox Civitatis the New Colonist weblog
08/22/2010: "A Village Grows in Philly?"
Doug Salzmann and J. H. Crawford are assembling a proposal to convert a Philadelphia brownfields site into an urban pedestrian village--not just an intentional community, or a street, or a demonstration project, but a fully-functioning community for people who would love to escape the domination of the car and win their daily lives back.Although similar projects have been successful in Europe, primarily in Germany, this would be a first of the Untied States, where it is most sorely needed.
They are asking for persons with an interest in advising on or participating in the project to view the website and contact one of them. The details are in their press release below:
Friends and fellow urbanists:All I can say is, It's about time!
For a very long time, a number of us have been speculating, wondering, dreaming about the possibility of creating a real, mixed-use, pedestrian village in an American city. Could it actually be done? Could we arrange for sufficient land, transit connections, an appropriate regulatory environment, financing? If we built it, would they come? Would people actually want to live there?
Joel Crawford and I, together with a small but growing group of urbanists and Philadelphia opinion leaders and visionaries, have decided that now is a good time to pursue those questions. We think the answer to each of them may be..."Yes."
We have identified a potential site, a large brownfield on the Schuylkill River, in Philadelphia, and have developed a conceptual site plan and preliminary introduction to the proposed project:Gaslight Village--Philadelphia
A downloadable PDF of the conceptual plan is available at the above website and the introductory text and accompanying photographs should be sufficient to provide an overview of our vision for the project and of its scope.
Next April, Philadelphia will host the "Brownfields 2011" conference. Planners, industry representatives, and EPA offcials will gather from around the country to discuss the current state of brownfield redevelopment. We hope to be able to make a full-scale presentation of Gaslight Village at that time. If that is to happen, we need to both expand our core group of proponents/designers/planners and to focus our efforts on the details of the proposal.
To that end, we are establishing a moderated discussion forum to foster and coordinate communication about the proposal. We' d like you--and others--to join in the discussion. To do so, simply visit this Yahoo Groups site:Gaslight Village Symposium
Just fill out the simple form. Joel or I will approve membership and, in the next few weeks, as everyone returns from summer excursions, we'll get down to the nuts and bolts of this rather ambitious proposal.
If you have any questions or suggestions, you may contact me at kalliergo@me.com. Joel Crawford can be reached at mailbox@carfree.com.
We look forward to exploring with you!
