2006-05-04T12:30:00.000-05:00

GUS 150

Spring 2006

Temple University

INDEPENDENT SITE STUDY:

Kensington - Philadelphia, PA

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The Department of Geography and Urban Studies at the Temple University Main Campus was offering the course GUS 150: Urban Environment this semester. This class seemed interesting when reading the description, and turned out to be a wonderful experience. Dr. Michele Masucci, Professorof the class, would have us individually investigate a personally selected site for a rigorous research and analysis through a series of bITS themes that were learned throughout the course. The research included field reports, theory, policy, and social construction of the place. My site of interest is located in the void bounded by Front St., Norris St, Blair St., and Parmer St. in North Philadelphia. The 3 1/2 acre plot of land is a tension point that is located on the district boundaries of three neighborhoods: Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond.

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SITE CONTEXT

The location in which I am investigating the five (BITS) themes (urban spaces and daily lives, urban healthscapes, historical industrial urban contexts, urban landscapes and mobility, and archiving the community) is in North Philadelphia, about 13 blocks east of Temple University's main campus. This land mass area is defined by the irregular intersections of un-orthogonal streets. It is in itself a juxtaposition of the geometries that converge to shape this element into a centerpiece of a community forum. 0
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juxtaposition - the concept of distinct elements, such as culture, land use, and deviation from the grid system, that merge into a unique composition of social/spatial qualities that are easily noted.

geometries - the physical characteristics of space, connectivity, and perception: the pattern of streets and their relationship to a grid; the shape of land masses that foirregularalr urban conditions (the triangle); the percieved setting of a space.

community forum - the place of the convergence of social groups that have particular desires and/or responsibility for their community as a whole

Site: Aerial Photograph

IMAGE - google.com

This 150,000 square foot plot is bounded by The Frankford-Market Elevated Train above Front St., and E. Norris St., Blair St., and Palmer St., and currently shares the land with a moderately used recreation center as well as a baseball playing field.
The ground is rarely traversed for the purpose of getting to the other side, and is seen as a having a negative effect on the image of the neighborhood for the reason of its vacancy and attraction to local youths that may be either vandalizing, loitering in the area, or performing illegal activities; each of which make the space unattractive to the residents of the surrounding communities. The space then is not described as public space, but rather land that is territorially owned by the more frequent group of users whom begin to mark the spaces as their own.

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territorially owned - the shift from the use of public space as a specific location of a group's claimed area of land, in which the percieved perception of the space is granted to the people whom are willing to protect and guard the space for their own intrests.

users - a group of people who display similar intrests in the use of a space.

HISTORY OF THE SITE

The site itself has an integral role in Philadelphia's production of industrial goods in the time frame of the industrial revolution up until 1976, where it was a rail yard depot for a bolt manufacturing company, as well as a grainery and a textile processing mill. This important rail transit center supplied the North Philadelphia with the essential elements that determined its success in the urban market, especially within the distance of the Delaware River.

This 1980 Sanborn Map shows the rail lines that began in the urban land void and were paralleled up Trenton Ave. to service the needs of North Philadelphia and much farther beyond. The site poses a threat as a potential health risk to the communities surrounding the old railyard in the fact that harmful chemicals and toxins are likely to be mixed within the soil, as well as discarded scrap metal and old rail lines.

JUXTAPOSITION

The void that exists between the surrounding streets is in itself a convergence point of the different grid infrastructures. Evident in the site plan, the orthagonal streets intercept diagonally patterned streets creating juxtaposed geometries that are inefficient and awkward. The mere blending of these two grid systems is in itself a juxtaposition. This, and the related urban decay that has taken place over the last thirty to fifty years is a reciprocal of the once fast paced production enterprise that once dominated the region. The resultant is an abandoned and forgotten land due to the rapid rise and fall of a system that structured the environment around it.

A once tight-knit, community based, labor force driven - social construction has juxtaposed into a irrational segregation of micro-communities.

COMMUNITY MAP

Context of site involves a multi-directional outreach of function to local nodal points in the region. The Berks Street El stop located in the center of this map is a pedestrian hub for activity and transportation. Front street to the north is becoming more densly populated with smaller commercial businesses spurring economic activity. Front Street headed south towards Girard Ave. is more depleted, with only a few scattered economic locations. Germantown Ave. serves as an arterial route of activity that connects the North Philadelphia to the Germantown section of the city.

This map characterizes the context of the area through a land use map.

Shades of green represent some sort of health feature

- light green represents recreational space

-dark green represents healthcare centers

Gray shaded regions indicate industrial / vacant industrial space

Pink shaded regions include educational facilities

Blue represents residential housing densities

This map is a visual indication of actual walking distances throughout the site field reporting. The circles imply that the circumfrence of time from any of the blue dots is approximately five minutes. In diagram form, the overlapping circles represent health zones: the north circle includes Norris Square; the mid-overlapping contains Kensington Hospital; and the southern circle highlights open recreational space.

NEIGHBORHOOD DESCRIPTIONS

The two neighborhoods are traditionally known for their difference in population, race, land value, and function to the city. For many decades the center of Philadelphia's working class Irish-American community, Fishtown partly gentrified into an upscale, trendy location. Located immediately northeast of Center City, its borders are somewhat disputed, but are roughly defined by the Delaware River, Frankford Avenue, York and Girard Ave. It is named for its former role as the center of the fishing industry in Philadelphia.
The neighborhood had traditionally been working class, although poverty grew after jobs left in the deindustrialization process of the city. Property values have risen rapidly in recent years as the neighborhood has seen an influx of artists and professionals in a wave of gentrification.

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gentrification - the middle to upper class devotion to a region that was particularly a recent lower class neighborhood, in which the area becomes more valuable.

working class - within inner city populations, this term describes the laborers that worked in close proximity to their homes and were employed in manufacturing, industrial, and labor intensive actvities.

Kensington is known as an integral part of the city's Black and Puerto Rican populations. Traditionally working-class, Kensington was hurt from the closing down of the area's manufactories beginning in the 60's, which has led to major unemployment and run-down housing in the area. The area has also become known as a large small-business center due to the many diverse shops in the area.

Boundaries are formed within smaller societies of the different ethnic groups in the region. These are more territorial and invisibly exist as limits, yet are visually defined by graffiti, murals, or the music playing from the sidewalk record store. The void, the site, is a center where all of these boundaries meet. Both Kensington and Fishtown, as well as all of their smaller societies, merge on this North Philadelphia site.

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boundaries - non-physical social blockades that occur between different cultural, racial, or ethnic groups where social interaction within different commodities is generally non-existant.

visually defined - the physical deformations of the environment that suggest an ownership of territory to a particular set of people.

void - the description of an areo of land that does not have density, function, or phyical attributes that are positive to the surrounding community.

FIELD INVESTIGATION

THREE FIELD REPORTS OF THE SITE

INDUSTRIALIZATION

Population decreases within major cities in the United States has left them with physical voids in the urban fabric that once bound communities together through the local industry through live-work relationships. A nationwide shift from manufacturing to services and education over the last fifty years has translated into a new knowledge based economy.

Many American cities, such as Philadelphia have formed so rapidly as centers of production that they had scarce time to develop other aspects of urban life that would enable them to be attractive for economic activities when changing markets and technologies eroded their existing base. Most of these cities recognized that, in competing for new economic opportunities, they were trapped within a static urban form.
Physical redevelopment of the city is the catalyst for these transformations into a post-industrial city

[1].
These cities all have substantial inventories of industrial buildings and houses, an infrastructure designed to support a nineteenth early twentieth century industrial system, and supported much larger populations in their industrial development than will be necessary in the new-age economic system[2].

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infrastructure - the system of networks that enable the city to function: roads, rail, water systems, sewer systems, land zoning/planning

In the industrial city, housing had been developed specifically close in proximity to factories for the simple reason that the workers of those factories could walk from home to work very efficiently.

"During the post-war decades the foundations of the local economies shifted from a traditional focus on heavy industry and manufacturing [sectors such as coal, iron, and steel, engineering, and shipbuilding] to the present situation, where the leading component of the urban economy is the service sector (comprising producer, distributive, personal, and non-marketed services such as education).

[3]",according to Michael Pacione,
a Professor of Urban Geography at the University of Strathclyde.

The gradual decline of Philadelphia's core population over the last thirty years has left scattered plots of abandoned land throughout the city because of three fundamental changes - suburban sprawl, deindustrialization, and a shift of social development have contributed to the decline.

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suburban sprawl - the middle class expansion from the city into rural areas outside of the city, creating sub-central business districts that have unique charactersitics of space unlike the urban model.

deindustrialization - the gradual yet speedy loss of manufacturing jobs for the low class urban laborers - the shift from making to technology based production, opening up the service sector of the economy.

Today, in the wake of deindustrialization, the choices of where people live, work, or entrepreneur, is influenced by a connectivity of communication. More specifically, innovations such as the automobile and the internet have disintegrated the condition that in itself formed the urban landscape in the industrial neighborhood.

The result is an economically confused region that is begging to hold any form of service. In the region, the industrial significance of the railyard that once existed in the void provided the neighborhood with the economic benefits that are essential to positive living. At the Northwest corner of Norris and Front, a standalone mom and pop grocery store serves as the community market. On the Northeast corner, an autobody shop now infills what once was a grainery. The Southern end of the void is used as a storage plot for construction vehicles and school busses.

These descriptions indicate a depreciation of land value and use due to the function that existed once before. Effects of deindustrialization on the environment include harmful leftover materials from the old factories, abandoned row homes in the local area, careless regard for the environments displayed by the very people that inhabit them, lack of safe public space, and aged and overused healthcare facilities.

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urban landscape - the physical relationship of people to the urban environment, including the ability to retain a continuous economy between the live/work relationship - resultung in a percieved character of the space in which these activities occur.

According to Pacione, Old eastern industrial cities such as Philadelphia, New York, and Boston have experienced severe population losses and economic shrinkage in the post war period. (283) Suburbanization has combined with industrial decline to weaken the urban economy. The result of this is the both economic and social sprawl from what was the center of activity of the neighborhood. Therefore, intra-community bonding has, to some extent, has lost along with the separation from the unifying function. It then promoted a phenomenon of individualism of community.

Philadelphia - 1950 1990

1. Primary Iron and Steel 1. Education

2. Construction 2. Construction

3. Public Administration 3. Insurance and Real Estate

4. Fabricated Textiles 4. Hospitals

5. Wholesale Trade 5. Public Administration

Pacione, (283)

HEALTH

Communities segregate and develop boundaries that act as territorial micro-communities. These boundaries are enhanced by the physical absence of structure - visual aspects of void space that are related to the perceived notions of urban deterioration. These communities within their similarly structured neighborhoods may benefit both socially and economically if exposed to each other in a people friendly forum.
A cause of the seclusion within inter-city neighborhoods is the lack of dedication to the improvement of these areas through the local and state governments. Most of the neighborhoods were build centuries ago and have not benefited from the continued investment and improvement that have been directed to the retail and commercial areas of the central business district.

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seclusion - the non-existent communication between different social groups

Social disadvantage is not only based on the individual scale, but acts as a collective phenomenon that affects all residents as a result of a persuasive sense of decay and neglect that diminishes community spirit also undermined by antisocial activities such as crime and vandalism
Pacione, (301)
Therefore, design of the space that fills the void with the interaction of inter-community socialization may imply a togetherness that is greater for the whole region. Problematic issues arise when the healthscape of the environment is contaminated with un-healthy standards. Standards such as trash covered streets and scrap building parts in heaps in the sidewalks. Rusted fencelines and broken glass - all of these physical objects play a role in the mental perception of the quality of life. Sometimes the mental perception can be adapted to by these community persons and therefore not recognizing the risks that are posed. Disease, injury, and unhealthy diets are all a part of the health risks of the region.

The healthcare in the area of the site is not sufficient to address the needs of the community. Partially, this is due to the redlining of governmental aid within the racist relationships in Philadelphia. In fact, the region is not producing as much revenue for the city, in turn not getting as much funding.

However, the mental adaptation to the lifestyle present in these communities is not structured in healthy eating, excersize, or care for the clean environment, but a morphed perception of normal life.

The actual institutions that are present on the site are Kensington Hospital (Norris St. west of Front) and The Pain Center (Palmer St.). On both locations, there was an overwhelming activity at the buildings lobby areas for dropping off passengers.

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socialization - the implied notion of unity between these clashing social groups in turn realizing the greater goals of the community at large.

GENTRIFICATION

Metro Philadelphia, in short, exhibits one of the nation's most radical patterns of sprawl and abandonment, which lead to areas of emptiness and misuse. In 2000, residential segregation in Philadelphia was considered 'severe' (a dissimilarity score of 72) The Philadelphia region, in terms of its individual neighborhoods, is the 21st most socially isolated region in the nation (Source: Lewis Mumford Center)

[4]

In basic terms, the individualism of specific neighborhoods was having effects on the physical definitions of border conditions. For instance, the gentrification of Fishtown was due to the upper-class white infiltration into the region: a quality that would not cater to the theme of the Latino culture, which tends to be a middle-lower class society in Philadelphia. In the same effect, the strong presence of African-American residence among a particular block in the region would not necessarily attract a middle class white population.

In essence, populations tend to live close to the people of the same type and culture.[5] The importance of understanding place or forum for these differences to converge is to move forward as a whole.

Walking South on Front St. towards Girard Ave., I could see the transformation of the neighborhood from lower class to gentrified upper class. Some of the characteristics of the gentrified area include small shoppes and awning covered sidewalks with appartment studios above. Tidy sidewalks and nicely pruned trees make the walk somewhat euphoristic.

This line was crossed from South Kensington to Fishtown. Feeding this rapid development is the high activity levels of Girard Ave. and Germantown Ave., boosting the economic levels of the area. However, I feel that it is thehazardous void coupled with the 'myth-based-definition' of Kensington as the "badlands" that keep gentrification from creeping north up Front St.

ETHICAL DILEMMA

The ethics involved within the site are tied to the social convergence on the site. The land itself poses harmful characteristics that have been carried over from previous ownership, containing sharp, toxic, and rusting metals that couls be easily discovered. The healthcare facilities in the local proximity to the site are not welcoming or inviting and seem to be stressed in capacity and site related health issues.

Without a grocery store, the region is forced into a pattern of irrational consumerism in which small retailers stocking low value food items in aisles opposite of cold beer and malt liquor. Embelishing this phenomenon is the lack of clean open recreational space for mental and physical purification.

The approach to these issues of ethics and community spaces are outlined in a series of principals that will act as ethical guidelines to the development of a sucessful space and social interaction.

Design Principles: Public Space as Center of Community

these guidelines , which I created, imply the necessary changes that might be needed to transform the space into a positive and useful tool in the search for the answer to the question of : "what makes an urban space productive and useful to all in the public realm"

-Serve as center of the community

-Creating interaction as creating community

-Serve leisure, recreational, wellness needs of the community

-Provide for health, safety and security

-Appropriate lighting and visual access

-Address all safety and environmental issues such as defensible space

-Maintain healthy outdoor environments to keep looking good

-Minimize obscured or poorly lit places

-Carefully designed traffic patterns to initiate interaction

-Avoid extensive blank walls at ground level.

-"Active edges" such as glazed shop fronts are preferable and provide casual surveillance opportunities.

-Maximize the number of entries to buildings from the street to assist in activating the public domain.

-Rear lanes offer convenient short cuts and pedestrian routes. Lighting of such lanes is essential.

-Landscaping of public spaces should not obscure pedestrian eye-level sight lines. Low shrubs and thin trucked trees will avoid opportunities for hiding.

-Facilities that attract people, such as public phones, should be maximized in public spaces to reinforce levels of activity.

-Allow for flexibility and adaptability to changing needs

-Flexible design and adaptable systems

-Plan for rapid expansion of use of the space

-Allow for what we do not yet know

-Connections to the spaces

-Maximize public transport such as rail, buses and taxis.

-Provide walking and cycle paths along routes which are well-lit and where surveillance opportunities exist.

-Sometimes people have to move through a busy public area to get to a specially designed youth facility such as a skateboard ramp, basketball court or beach. Safe, easy to use, connecting routes need to be provided.

Young people usually enjoy the liveliness of busy places and shouldn't be seen as anti-social or problematic. An inclusive design process enables designers to be better informed of young people's needs. Involvement in design and implementation encourages young people to take ownership of and responsibility for public spaces and features that they have assisted in creating.

Â· Design public spaces that are flexible and can accommodate a wide range of users. Larger spaces and wider paths offer more opportunities for a range of activities.

Â· Provide seating in public for young people to gather as well as for other user groups. The provision of seating areas helps legitimize "hanging out" as an activity rather than an obstruction.

Â· In public streets, seating is ideally positioned at the edge of footpaths where through movement is not blocked and seats can be easily observed, as well as providing a good opportunity for watching passers by.

Â· In pedestrian malls and arcades, seating should be positioned centrally so as not to obstruct shoppers or obscure shop windows, but still providing opportunities for observing passing activity.

Â· Where facilities specific to young people are provided, such as youth cafes, these should be integrated into the urban fabric and positioned where there is passing life and activity, for example in street level shop fronts.

Â· Involve young people in planning initiatives for public space.

Â· Provide skate parks or skateboard facilities in public areas in locations that are visible to other public space users, but separate from main paths of movement.

HORSE AND CARRIAGE CONCEPT

The incident of the horse crash in New York City brings about the question of whether this service should be a part of the urban environment. Either in the city of New York or Philadlephia, the importance of this historical enterprise to the city is extremely essential to a tourist based commodity. It allows people to engage the communities at a slower rate than by automobile, while embracing nodal - or meeting points at public spaces.

Important to Philadelphia specifically, the Horse and Carriage promotes a connection of greensystems throughout the city. The routes typically bridge the South Philadelphia Green Way and Fishtown / Chestnut Hill, allowing people to engage in the public realm.

Horse and Carriage transportation must stay as a entity in large urban centers. They give the city historical context by expressing century long tradition as well as connect the green public spaces essential to a healthy city.

Public space as a binding force on community

- symbol to the city, to the community, to the individual
- decomposition of the boundary
- intent of recreational spaces
- paths from one identity to another identity
- public space and private space distinguishing characteristics
- spaces dedicated for community interaction
- visually functional from an unrelated current of people
- inclusion of cultural functions

decomposition - the breakdown of cultuarlly themed territories that are only passible by those within the culture

identity - a term used to describe the percieved social locations that give particular areas importance to many people

visually functional - an outlook of the space as one that can benefit all aspects of the society

*** all comments and definitions are origonal and sometimes my own descriptions of the terms used above (unless cited otherwise)

I can be reached directly at rmcder@temple.edu for further information.

[1] Mayo, Elton. The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1945 (15)
[2]Petshek, Kirk R. The Challenge of Urban Reform. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1973 (122)
[3] Pacione, Michael. Urban Geography: A Global Perspective. New York: Routledge, 2001 (282).
[4] Brookings Institute, ÂBack to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania. A Profile of the Philadelphia AreaÂ (2003)

[5]The National Commission on Neighborhoods. People, Building Neighborhoods: Final Report to the President, March 19, 1979. Washington, D.C. (131)

URBAN Perspective