Explore / philadelphia

Dyed Green Tomatoes

Philadelphia, PA

Community Garden for designers, or anyone, to cultivate natural dyes

Idea

How much can one acre yield? A city rife with vacant lots is a city ripe with potential.

Farmadelphia

Philadelphia, PA

Using neighborhood ownership of urban farms to support local businesses and food security.

Idea

Neighborhood context map showing built and vacant areas. The parcel of land in question is owned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

N. 31st St: Reclaiming the Urban Landscape

Philadelphia, PA

An eye-catching art installation-turned-community garden.

Idea

The composted soil is used to construct a new ground.

Horizontal Integration

Philadelphia, PA

A public park and soil farm constructed from Delaware River dredge material.

Idea

Neighboring buildings provide structural support for a tiered performance space.

Insert Use

Philadelphia, PA

An incremental approach to reclaiming vacant lots.

Idea

Railroad adjacencies and large tracts of vacant land act as large event spaces and take the place of traditional “commons.”

Biodelphia

Philadelphia, PA

Integrating biotechnology and the urban fabric.

Idea

Cliveden Park

Philadelphia, PA

This Philadelphia park renovation demonstrates minimally invasive techniques for stormwater management through topographic manipulation.

Completed

Matthew Langan’s Urban Arboretum envisions a Philadelphia with trees lining every street and nurseries filling every vacant lot and odd corner.

The Urban Arboretum

Philadelphia, PA

Returning Philadelphia to forest.

Idea

Waterview Recreation Center

Philadelphia, PA

A renovated community center incorporates streetside features to manage stormwater.

Completed

A vast array of playground equipment and surfaces populate South Philadelphia's Herron Park. (Philadelphia Water Department)

Herron Playground

Philadelphia, PA

Water plays a major role in a South Philadelphia playground, from recreation to green infrastructure.

Completed

Urban Arboriculture is a design proposal for a large vacant site in Southwest Philadelphia, in a neighborhood once residential but now riddled by empty buildings and lots.

Urban Arboriculture Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA

A proposal for tree farm production in Southwest Philadelphia

Idea

Emergent Performative Landscape

Philadelphia, PA

Phased tree production accommodates a new community space.

Idea

Eastwick Alleywalk

Philadelphia, PA

Creating corridors and connecting parks and the city.

Idea

A large parcel of vacant land in Southwest Philadelphia provides both the inspiration and the challenge for the proposed Eastwick Community Park.

Eastwick Community Park

Philadelphia, PA

A patchwork of urban plant cultivation.

Idea

Aronsson & Salmons' design combines basketball courts, tree production, and features of a traditional park, all in a compact urban space.

Urban Arboriculture Charrette

Philadelphia, PA

A small-scale urban forestry project from Pennsylvania State University.

Idea

PSU students proposed a tire-stabilized community garden and tree plantation to bring life back to a vacant block on North Uber Street.

Charrette: 1920 North Uber Street

Philadelphia, PA

Managing urban stormwater with recycled tire swales.

Idea

Farmadelphia’s fundamental purpose is to transform vacant properties into productive urban farms. These farms may include both open plots and greenhouses.

Farmadelphia (Greenhouses)

Philadelphia, PA

Immediate, affordable solutions for urban farmers.

Idea

Chickens help weed and fertilize the fields, while keeping pests under control.

Farmadelphia (Business Plan)

Philadelphia, PA

Using neighborhood ownership of urban farms to support local businesses and food security.

Idea

Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative

Philadelphia, PA

A university-community partnership educating young people through urban agriculture

Completed

Row houses and hoop houses coexist peacefully at Greensgrow’s Kensington location.

Greensgrow Farms

Philadelphia, PA

A nursery, farm market, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in Philadelphia, PA

Completed

Students turn over soil to prepare for planting.

Mill Creek Urban Farm

Philadelphia, PA

An educational urban farm in Northwest Philadelphia

Completed

A student team composed of Kiki Brown, Mary Huynh, and Carson Sio designed a vertical planting unit for homegrown produce.

Farm Philly

Philadelphia, PA

Student designs: new techniques for urban farming

Completed

Vacancies as small as a single lot can host a hoop house full of greens.

Greening the Urban Appetite

Philadelphia, PA

Urban agriculture as a tool for economic recovery.

Idea

Embracing Fallowdelphia

Philadelphia, PA

Customizable ideas for direct action

Idea

Hydroponic greenhouses include systems for cleaning waste water and re-using grey water for agricultural production.

Green for Green

Philadelphia, PA

Small-scale, low-cost solutions to stormwater management and soil degradation.

Idea

A combined urban farm and traditional garden incorporating native plant species.

Edible City

Philadelphia, PA

A new garden city.

Idea

Aerial view of green corridors and Urban Catalysts in North Philadelphia.

Ecological Reconfiguration

Philadelphia, PA

New transportation and open-space networks.

Idea

Vacant lots before composting, and after they have been reforested and farmed.

Compost City

Philadelphia, PA

Re-using biosolids to rehabilitate Philadelphia's urban landscape

Idea

Weaver's Way Co-op

Philadelphia, PA

A model farm and co-op in Philadelphia, with diverse yet integrated operations.

Completed

Urban (em)power Boosters

Philadelphia, PA

Combine flexible surfaces with utility lines for instant activity niches.

Idea

The Produce Garden will sit side-by-side with a recreation field and basketball court.

Timescapes

Philadelphia, PA

Taking back the backyard

Idea

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Grow
Use the Grow section to explore innovative methods for planting, growing, farming, harvesting, reforesting, and building productive landscapes. This Category covers subject areas like urban agriculture, community gardening, and urban forestry. Issues addressed include food security, soil science, nutrition, and the socioeconomic importance of safe food production.
Water
In this category, creative solutions for managing stormwater and street runoff appear side by side with irrigation systems, canals, and fountains. Water solutions for cities range from networks of streetside swales to small-footprint greenhouses occupying single vacant lots. Emphasis is placed on reducing impermeable surfaces in cities—these include rooftops, sidewalks, and traditionally paved surfaces like playgrounds and basketball courts.
Power
Alternative energy sources available in urban contexts include solar power, wind power, and biofuels. Efficient green-building solutions and varied methods of bioremediation—preparing polluted urban soil for other uses—also appear in this diverse Category.
Play
Public space, education, recreation, and safety are serious considerations for anyone rehabilitating urban vacant lots. Explore the Play Category to find inspiring designs combining all of these elements in parks, community centers, playgrounds, and alternative transportation systems.

By Scale

Lots
Small solutions can often be the most accessible for individuals and communities, while producing the greatest positive impact. Explore our solutions for Lots to find compact architectural structures, mobile education units, pocket gardens, greenhouses, hydroponic beds, and many other projects for pocket-sized spaces.
Lots of Lots
More space means bigger opportunities: long-term, large-scale operations working to fit the needs of entire neighborhoods. Lots of Lots collects examples of—and ideas for—rehabilitating former industrial sites, entire blocks, and other big vacant sites requiring complex planning. Projects like these offer city governments and corporations the chance to support communities through funding, operational support, and policy change.
Corridors
Building Corridors brings together populations, businesses, and neighborhoods never before in close contact. Explore this Category to learn how urban networks of all kinds—from bicycle lanes to trail systems to small-scale barter economies—can capitalize on vacant properties to effect citywide change.

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