Category urban

Urban farming … in North Philly?

Urban farming in Philadelphia seems to be a growing program for neighborhoods that are under served for food options.

What do I mean be under served? I mean that there are many neighborhoods in our big city that don’t have access to a decent supermarket. Most of the time, they have to rely on smaller corner markets to shop for their daily/weekly/monthly food and the selection is limited. Especially in the “fresh” category.

I actually wrote a post in April 2011 about an urban farm opening in Brewerytown, and this article proves that the trend is growing.

Outer suburban areas are losing their appeal

Back in 2005, at the height of the real estate boom, buyers were swarming to buy new McMansions almost 50 miles from the core of Philadelphia.

The real question was, why wouldn’t they? They were getting more house for the money, everything was brand new, and they could escape city life. But is that really why the demand was there? No, it wasn’t. It was because home prices were appreciating at an astonishing rate, getting competitive financing was about as easy as tying your shoes, and bigger just seemed better. All of these factors created an inflated demand for new construction housing never seen before in American history. As we can all see today, it was unsustainable.

The funny thing is that even though this happened only 7 years ago, it seems to be the complete opposite of how buyers think today. Today, buyers will sacrifice a home’s size for close proximity to public transportation, they are buying fixer-uppers to add sweat equity to their bottom line, and they are doing everything they can to live within their means. There was a great story written in the New York Times titled “The Death of the Fringe Suburb.” It’s a very well written article and it really captures why things are the way they currently are.

Please also give Inga Saffron’s latest Changing Skyline article a read. It focuses more on the Philadelphia area and how its demographics are changing.

Philadelphia’s parks are in “high gear”

 
As quoted by the Huffington Post, “For more than three centuries, city planning, landscape architecture and a unique civic ambition that emphasizes horticulture as much as the pedestrian experience in its public spaces and streetscapes, have made Philadelphia a fascinating city.”

 
Sometimes when someone looks at cities for comparison, they don’t always consider parks and open space as an important factor. Philadelphia is one such city that ranks high in this category. This uninformed perspective may also start to change over the next 10 years or so, as cities all over the country look for smarter and more sustainable ways to manage their ecosystems (i.e. storm water runoff, flooding, air pollution, etc.).

 
Philadelphia has one of the largest urban parks in the US (Fairmount Park), as well as many neighborhood pocket parks that provide green space for over 1.5 million residents. If you would like to read the entire story, please check it out here.