Philadelphia’s Planning Program
Edmund N. Bacon, Executive
Director, Philadelphia
City Planning Commission
The technical side of
Philadelphia’s planning
program springs from the economic necessities. The human relations side
is deeply imbedded in our democratic traditions of local government.
Much
of the motivation for the technical planning derives from an acute
awareness
of the dynamic situation in which cities are competing with each other
for economic advantage. Elements of this competition include costs of
production,
taxes, adequacy of public services, such as water, highway and port
facilities,
and general residential attractiveness of the city. Much of our way of
doing planning and of our efforts to put it into action are influenced
by our belief that the efficiency and order which the planner desires
is
less important than the preservation of basic individual democratic
liberties
and, where the two are in conflict, the demands of the democratic
process
must always prevail.
Beginnings of the
Philadelphia Planning
Commission.
The first efforts for a
revitalized planning
program in Philadelphia came, not from the government, but from a small
group of young citizens. Various committees were formed and a
continually
widening circle of existing civic organizations became interested in
the
proposal. Finally, a group of about 60 organizations petitioned the
City
Council to establish a planning program. The strength of the testimony
of the public hearing, not so much the product of the influence of any
of the individuals who spoke, as of the remarkable combination of
representatives
of a truly wide cross-section of the community, resulted in the
adoption
of the planning ordinance and the appointment in 1942 of the nine-man
Planning
Commission. From the first moment that the Commission sat in formal
session
it was aware of the fact that it occupied its place because of the
work,
over many months, of citizens’ groups. Its first act was to pledge
cooperation
with the formal Citizens’ Council on City Planning which was created by
the community organizations which had worked on the ordinance. This
pledge
has been maintained through the twelve years of its operations. In the
meantime, the Citizens’ Council has grown to have almost 200 civic
organization
members. Its budget of $ 40,000 a year, derived mainly by contributions
from the business community, and its staff of six persons, enables it
to
issue bulletins and hold large public meetings in various parts of the
City to interpret the Commission’s program to the public, and to serve
on Advisory Committees and issue technical bulletins directed toward
influencing
official planning policy. It is the interaction of the official body
and
the independent citizens’ group, supporting or criticizing the official
body according to the various issues involved, which had given much of
the strength to Philadelphia’s planning program.
Development of Planning
Under the Home
Rule Charter.
Ten years after creation of the
City Planning
Commission as a purely advisory body without powers, the voters of
Philadelphia
adopted a new Home Rule Charter. Under this Charter, the Commission was
established as an integral part of the municipal government directly
advisory
to the Mayor in the formulation of basic municipal policy. The
Commission
consisted of six citizen members, appointed by the Mayor, and three
members
of the four-man Mayor’s Cabinet including, importantly, the Director of
Finance. This results in integration between long-range planning
recommendations
and policy discussions at the administrative level. Important new
powers
were given to the Planning Commission, including that of formulating
every
year a program for all public expenditures for capital improvements
over
the six following years. The first year becomes the Capital Budget, the
document actually appropriating funds for the projects. This is
forwarded
to the Council by the Mayor and, following public hearings, is adopted
by the Council as official governmental policy with such modifications
as it may desire. This planned scheduling of the financing of projects
is of critical importance in giving the dimension of reality to the
planning
concepts and in assuring that the energies and resources of the
community
are directed toward planned objectives (1).
Economic Competition and the
Highway
System.
American cities have prospered or
declined
according to the character of the transportation system which serve
them.
New York City seized the supremacy from Philadelphia (by far the
principal
city of Eighteenth Century America) early in the last century by the
development
of the Erie Canal, providing cheap water transportation through the
Great
Lakes chain to the markets of the mid-west. The mode of transportation
has changed in the intervening years and today, increasingly, trucking
over the major highways is playing a major role in economic activity.
With
the development of the Pennsylvania Turnpike across the State of
Pennsylvania
to the Ohio border and its extension through Ohio, eventually,
undoubtedly
to Chicago, and the development of the New Jersey Turnpike, soon to be
part of an unbroken expressway system from Portland, Maine to
Washington,
D.C., Philadelphia finds itself at the crossroads of the main east-west
and the main north-south highway of the North-eastern part of the
United
States. The problem then becomes that of providing, by express highway
extensions, easy and rapid access to the Port of Philadelphia, its
industrial
districts and commercial centers, before the convenient by-pass to New
York is completed. The expressway system for Philadelphia was developed
into mature form in 1950. From detailed traffic studies completed in
1947,
the Commission worked out for the entire coordinated system the
anticipated
traffic volume for the year 1970. This has proved to be of inestimable
value in later developments and was very helpful in securing agreement
to have a portion of the expressway system built by the Delaware River
Port Authority, supported by bridge tolls. The basic form of the
expressway
system consists of an inner loop around the edges of the business
center
with four radials extending in northeast, southeast, northwest and
southwest
directions to connect with the regional system of turnpikes and with an
outer circumferential system to tie together the regional hinterland,
and
to provide a by-pass avoiding center city (2).
Some ten miles of the Schuylkill Expressway are under construction in
1955
and a study has just been completed to attempt to determine the
economic
feasibility of construction of the Delaware Expressway financed by
tolls (3).
The Planning Commissions of the three adjacent Counties and the
Regional
Planning Commission covering these three Counties cooperate closely
with
Philadelphia in the development of the regional aspects of the highway
system.
Transportation as a Total
Problem.
The center city streets are narrow
and
congested at present. The studies of the Delaware Expressway showed
that,
by 1960, even with a six-lane cross-section, the capacity of the
highway
would be exceeded by the traffic volume in the central section.
Although
Philadelphia fortunately has an excellent passenger sub-way system, the
current trend is lesser use of the subways and increased use of
automobiles
for the downtown trip, resulting in continually increasing congestion.
The Delaware Expressway report suggests the possibility of the use of
tolls
as the means for controlling the volume on the expressway and of
avoiding
the reduction or negation of its usefulness by the degree of congestion
which reduces the speed to that of ordinary city streets. The thought
has
further been advanced that the long-run solution may consist of
imposing
a toll system on the whole express highway network to produce a
balanced
use of the expressways in proper relation to their capacity, and also
to
produce revenue which can be applied toward subsidizing the mass
transit
system, thereby reducing congestion on the highways.
Industrial Land Use Planning.
The basic structure of the
comprehensive
plan consists of the rail and highway network related to the industrial
land use areas. A study of industrial land use needs (4),
published in December 1950, indicated that, by 1980, the land devoted
to
industrial use in Philadelphia should be doubled, taking into account
the
trend away from multi-story buildings into one-story structures with
ample
parking space and recreation areas around them. From this study a
generalized
regional plan for the location of the additional industrial areas was
made
sufficient in scope to meet anticipated needs. At the same time that
this
rather stratospheric 1890 study was going on, the Commission was
carrying
out some very practical plans for giving force to the plan after it was
made. Through its Technical Advisory Committee on Zoning, it
recommended
to the City Council, and the Council adopted, a revision of the Zoning
Ordinance prohibiting the building of houses in industrial districts.
This
made possible, for the first time, the legal reservation of undeveloped
lands primarily for industrial use. Following a series of meetings over
several months with the community organization in a section of
Philadelphia
which was largely undeveloped, general agreement was reached on a plan
for development of this section of the City which included over a
thousand
acres for future industrial expansion. This portion of the plan was
adopted
by City Council and thereby created an industrial land reserve.
Currently,
the official plan for this section is in process of adoption. The
industrial
spaces are being expanded to allow for further industrial increase. At
the present time, the University of Pennsylvania under contract with
the
Planning Commission, is preparing a more detailed and focused analysis
of industrial development than has hitherto been made. This includes a
determination of the type of industry which would particularly benefit
by being located in the Philadelphia area, the extent of growth that
may
be anticipated by industrial types to the year 1960, 1970, and 1980,
and
the special land and facilities requirements of these industrial types.
This will give us a background for a revision of the comprehensive
industrial
land use plan to provide space with the characteristic needed.
Considerable
industrial acreage is being obtained by the reclamation of low lying
land
through the use of the redevelopment power and funds making possible
broad-scale
application of marine fill. Further establishment of industrial
districts
in blighted central sections of the City is included in the long-range
plans.
Financial Implications of
Industrial
Planning.
The industrial study and its
advisory
committee have already pointed out that industry in the old-multi-story
loft type buildings is continually seeking large outlying sites where
it
can construct one-story structures with plenty of room for expansion.
Since
the City limits of Philadelphia cover only a limited portion of the
regional
area and since there are only limited areas of open land still
available
for industry within the City, a serious economic and tax problem may be
created. In our area, as in most U.S. cities, the normal type of
residential
development produces considerably les revenue in local taxes than the
amount
required for local public services. The difference is made up by income
derived from the excess of taxes over service costs in commercial and
industrial
areas. If the trend of movement to outlying locations results in a
substantial
reduction in the proportion of industry within the City limits, the
City
will face serious fiscal problems. Detailed analysis of this problem
will
be made following the completion of the basic industrial study and will
have a strong influence on the basic plan proposals.
Redevelopment of Blighted
Areas
Another economic problem of major
proportion
is the economic and social decline of large inlying older sections of
the
City. Buildings are deteriorating, houses are being torn down and
vacant
lots are accumulating. The environmental factors discourage new
building.
The consequence is a spreading area of deterioration whit a declining
population.
In the long-run the trend if unchecked must inevitably lead to
financial
disaster. With the aid of city, state and federal redevelopment funds,
the City Planning Commission, the Housing Authority and the
Redevelopment
Authority are at work on programs for revitalizing these declining
areas.
At the beginning of the current program we saw our work as more than
simply
tearing down huge areas, sending the population elsewhere, and
rebuilding
with new structures. It included strengthening neighborhood structure,
removing the worst sore spots, providing necessary community facilities
and amenities, and revitalizing neighborhood spirit and morale.
Redevelopment
plans aim at preserving basic existing population groupings and
institutions.
This led us to a program of a series of small clearance areas and new
building
or rehabilitation projects each designed by different architects rather
than larger, undifferentiated plans (5).
In this approach, a problem quickly arose from the failure of the
architects
to coordinate the planning of their individual contiguous projects. The
effort appeared likely to result in a spotty hodgepodge of development
which fell short of the basic concept of urban renewal. A way had to be
found to bind together a series of individual projects individually
designed
into some sort of overall civic unity. The system which we evolved we
consider
to be a basic contribution to thinking on the urban design problem. In
collaboration with the architects who are designing the several areas,
and following the development by them of their first preliminary
sketches
for their individual areas, the design staff of the City Planning
Commission
prepares an over-all skeletal design structure of open spaces to serve
as a backbone for the design system. This is based on an analysis of
the
organic social and physical structure of the neighborhood and of the
basic
distribution and significance of its various institutional buildings.
The
plan for the entire redevelopment area includes a definite system of
green
walkways, squares and open spaces. Designed in detail by the
Commission’s
staff, these focus on the several significant local institutions and
landmarks.
The basic site plans of the individual architects are adjusted to hear
a meaningful relationship to this system of organized green open
spaces.
The consequence is a sense of “depth in time” obtained by the use of
the
older institutions as focal points in contrast to much newer
construction
and, also, the production of an urban scale and texture which is not
ordinarily
achieved when a single designer covers so large an area. Design of this
type requires a high degree of technical skill and design ability on
the
part of the planning agency coordinating the program and, also, of
cooperation
and forbearance on the part of the individual architects. The total
civic
design produced is superior to that which would be obtained by the
individual
efforts of either group alone.
Design of New Communities in
Outlying
Areas.
The planning of the large
remaining open
areas provides the City Planning Commission with an opportunity to
develop
new patterns for community living. The Far Northeast Physical
Development
Plan, tentatively adopted by the Planning Commission, sets forth such a
pattern of community organization (6).
The residential areas are separated from each other by the natural
stream
valleys which remain open, and, where necessary , by planned
greenbelts,
into units of about 600 to 800 houses each. The through traffic flows
around
the outside edge of these neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a core
with
small local shopping center and a site for a church. The centers of the
neighborhoods are connected by a loop system of streets on which are
developed
bus routes. The bus loop can carry the residents from one center to
another
and, via the expressways, rapidly to center city. The internal system
of
each neighborhood consists of a ring street off which are a series of
loop
streets on which the houses are developed. This means that, by reason
of
its inherent design, the street system acts as an automatic filter,
separating
traffic down into finer and finer categories: ultimately the traffic
using
any street is only that which is destined to an area served directly by
it. The clear unity of form of the neighborhood groupings also should
result
in the development of a definite social life around the community
center.
In general, approximately four of these neighborhood units are grouped
into a school district which is located at the point of juncture of the
four neighborhoods. Assuming that each neighborhood has 600 families,
the
some 2400 families that would be in the school district would produce
from
400 to 600 elementary school pupils under prevailing Philadelphia
conditions,
which approximately meets the standards acceptable to the Philadelphia
Board of Education. The schools are located on the greenway system of
natural
stream-valleys through which pass foot paths and bicycle paths. This
means
that many of the children will go to school by the greenway system
entirely
separated from the vehicular street system. Under the control given to
it by the Charter, which requires (Section 4-603) Planning Commission
approval
of all street plans, the City Planning Commission is able to secure
coordination
of development of the various private property owners to carry out the
basic tenets of this plan.
Park and Recreational
Development.
Philadelphia is fortunate in
having the
largest and one of the finest municipal parks in the United States
within
its boundaries, the Fairmount Park. Several of the other stream valleys
have been developed into parks providing a reasonably integrated park
system.
About thirty new playgrounds were acquired within the last eight years
spread throughout the City. Detailed studies are now in progress to
attempt
to establish new standards for parks and open spaces in the congested
central
areas. On the assumption that additional funds will be available for
redevelopment
from federal sources, plans are being advanced for utilizing these
funds
to establish a system of open space throughout all older sections of
the
City.
Central City Development.
An important part of the Planning
Commission’s
work in the attempt to establish in center city a form and scale of
architectural
design which is a reasonable expression of the dynamic and developing
qualities
of the region. William Penn’s original simple plan with its five
squares
provides desirable amenities but is quite lacking in the vigorous scale
and monumental character which distinguishes so many European cities.
The
great parkway development leading to the Art Museum, which was designed
by Jacques Greber toward the beginning of this century , provides a
splendid
civic unit, unfortunately somewhat removed from the heart of central
city.
The demolition of an elevated railway structure and station in the very
core of the downtown area, releasing for new development some 14 acres,
provided an opportunity for a new vigor in center city and required us
to attempt to think through the problem “What is monumentality under
current
conditions?”. Even before the removal of the railroad structure was
assured,
the Planning Commission prepared its suggestion for the new
development.
This was built around the concept of Penn Center as a front entrance to
center city, connecting together and with the downtown area, the two
subway
systems which cross at this point, the Pennsylvania Railroad
underground
tracks, a connection with parking facilities related to the expressway
system and, at its western end, a bus and airlines terminal. The
Commission’s
original idea was the creation of a garden mall extending about 1400
feet
down the center of a four-block area one level below the street and
opening
onto the subways and the lower level railroad waiting room. This garden
space was to be straddled by three tall office buildings and lined by
shops
with normal street frontage on one side and two-story glass fronts
opening
onto the lower level garden esplanade with its fountains and trees open
to the sky. This kind of system of interrelationships between the
transportation
systems was based on a planner’s understanding of the broad functional
side of city development and given an architect’s three-dimensional
expression.
As often happens in such projects, the actual execution is quite
different
from the original conception, but the force of the idea contained in
the
Planning Commission’s original proposal is clearly evident in the
extent
to which it has survived in the work which is now being carried out.
This
is particularly noteworthy because the Commission actually had no legal
powers at all to enforce its architectural ideas. To the extent that
they
are incorporated in the current development, it is simply because the
developer
voluntarily chose to use them. It was finally decided not to retain the
garden for the full length of the four blocks but rather to develop a
continuous
lower-level esplanade under roof. However, a series of four or five
garden
spaces are definitely provided for, strategically spotted, opening into
the lower-level and directly visible from the subway and the railroad
station.
These will give a character to the entire lower-level section which is
quite unique. The structures above the ground are designed to cover
only
half the space available, the remainder will consist of an esplanade
extending
the greater part of the length of the project in which there will he
trees,
fountains and sculpture. It is planned to make this a sort of index of
Philadelphia’s museums, with examples from the collections of each. A
large
parking garage at the western end will be a desirable practical asset.
General Approach to the
Planning Process.
The Commission’s technical staff
fully
recognizes that city planning must be based on detailed economic
analysis
and on a reasonably complete statistical interpretation of the
community’s
growth and development. It recognizes that, in the final analysis, the
purpose of the greater part of this activity is to produce for the
people
who live in the city a richer and more enjoyable life. This inevitably
involves the design of the environment. The technical staff of the
Commission
must include experts in the field of economics, sociology , statistics
and engineering. It must also include designers of the highest ability
and skills. The demand is for designers on a level quite different from
that traditionally found in architects’ offices. Here there can be no
dependence
on the client for the formulation of a program and the design thinking
cannot be limited to a small geographical plot. New concepts must be
evolved
on which the design process is based and new relationships must be
conceived.
Design must he broad in its geographical scope and capable of natural
organic
extension. The designer must be capable of seeing and understanding the
underlying organic structure of the neighborhood which he is attempting
to plan and of the larger area and of the city as a whole. He must be
able
to produce designs which are elegant and finished in their detail but
which
cover only the most essential areas and have within them that type of
implicit
dignity and strength which is capable of binding together into one
harmonious
urban form the design efforts of the several individual architects who
detailed the adjacent areas. Implicit in this conclusion is the idea of
the inherent force and persuasion of such design; and a challenge to
planning
and architectural education to give us such designers.