CENTER CITY

Community Input from Phase 1

Several hundred people participated in GreenPlan Philadelphia community meetings, responded to survey questions, and provided comments and suggestions on this website's blog. All of this public input has been cataloged and organized as an important step in the planning process, and is summarized below for this planning area and on a citywide basis for comparison.

The information presented here does NOT constitute recommendations of GreenPlan Philadelphia, but instead simply reports back what participants identified as important open-space issues, concerns, and/or locations they believe the plan should consider. Some of these suggestions will become plan recommendations, others—for reasons ranging from being too specific to financially infeasible—will not. For an in-depth look at what participants had to say, please download the full summary report for this planning area.

Next steps: This public input—along with various technical analyses (including demographic, public-health, and environmental factors) and research on best practices in other cities—is being "synthesized" into draft GreenPlan Philadelphia recommendations to be published in the fall. Check the website during the summer for updates and information on how you can review the recommendations when they are ready.

Top Issues of Interest

Center City vs. Citywide
  • Improve transit system and infrastructure
  • Change planning policies on new development
  • Improve hard surfaces and structures
  • Plant more trees
  • Provide new open space
  • Provide new greenways
  • Change planning policies on open space
  • Use innovative approaches to improvements
  • Improve riverfronts and access
  • Improve natural landscape and plantings
  • Plant more trees
  • Provide new open space
  • Provide new community open space
  • Improve maintenance of park, recreation and other facilities
  • Change planning policies on new development
  • Improve neighborhood communication and coordination
  • Improve maintenance of vacant properties
  • Improve lighting
  • Improve appearance of transit stops and corridors
  • Improve access to parks by transit
  • Improve sanitation services

Most Frequently Cited Locations of Interest



Vine Street / Expressway
Schuylkill River / Park
I-95
Delaware River
Rittenhouse Square
Reading Viaduct
Franklin Square
City Hall
Ben Franklin Parkway
Fitler Square
Penn's Landing
Washington Square
Independence National Historic Park
Locust Street
Spruce Street
Franklintown Park
Hawthorne
Love Park
Schuylkill Expressway
Washington Avenue
Ben Franklin Bridge
Walnut Street
East River Drive
Pocket Park at 18th & Chestnut Streets
Race Street
Federal Reserve Bank




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