CURRENT PPS PROJECTS

Philadelphia's Vine Street Expressway

In Philadelphia, proving that even a highway can be turned around

Philadelphia's Vine Street Expressway is a sunken highway that, like all too many urban thoroughfares, divides its surrounding neighborhoods and discourages street life. Even the surface-level streets on each side of the expressway feel like highways, with their wide lanes, fast-moving traffic, and poor pedestrian amenities. Such an intimidating place can still be turned around, and PPS is working with Philadelphia's Center City District to do just that.

Luckily, the Vine Street corridor passes through several key places that can link neighborhoods together by serving as destination points. The goal is to create "special places" in these crucial areas along Vine Street, such as Franklin Square, Chinatown, and Logan Circle, all of which have the potential to become more active and attractive destinations. These revitalized places, together with a humanized, pedestrian-friendly treatment of the surface streets, will make Vine Street a connector and link between the various neighborhoods along it.

How To Create Successful Markets
Part I: Starting markets in your neighborhood
New York City, April 23-24, 2003

A 5-day course on looking "beyond the pavement" to the role streets and roads play in enhancing communities; conducted with 650 transportation professionals in New Jersey, and 350 in New York State.
Wisconsin Department of Transportation: Fred Kent, kick-off speech for 3-day training course, December 10th, Madison WI
Delaware Department of Transportation: Kathy Madden, keynote speaker, December 11th, Wilmington DE
California Department of Transportation
New York State Department of Transportation
New Jersey State Department of Transportation

2nd Annual New Partners for Smart Growth
Fred Kent leading Creating Public Spaces workshop
New Orleans, January 30-February 1, 2003

Conferences

Parks Conference
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Central Park
New York City, June, 2003

New Programs

Community Technology Centers

Public Markets Program
Research into public markets as a mechanism of social integration and upward mobility. Funded by the Ford Foundation.

Websites

Omaha Riverfront Improvement Plan
An initiative of LivelyOmaha.org

Vine Street, Philadelphia

DowntownNYC.org
This site is designed to gather ideas and opinions about the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan from the people who live and work there, or care about its future.

Parks, Plazas and Civic Squares

Case Western Reserve
Cleveland, OH

Olympic Plaza and Central Square
Calgary, CAN

Citywide Parks Program
Including downtown library plaza
Danville, CA

Baisley Park
King Manor Park
Two historic parks that are underperforming
New York City

Mount Vernon Place
Revitalization of this historic park with conservatory, art museum, and other public institutions (Friends of Mount Vernon Place)
Baltimore, MD

Bronx River Working Group
Produce case study on the evolution of this important river-based partnership (Partnerships for Parks)
Bronx, NY

Wade Oval (pictured right)
Place-making and improvements for civic space (University Circle, Inc.)
Cleveland, OH

Barkwill Park
Place-making and improvements (Slavic Village Development)
Cleveland, OH

Federal Plaza/Hyde Park
Downtown historic square (General Services Administration)
Ft. Worth, TX

Public Art & Open Space Master Plans
(Main Street Mobile)
Mobile, AL

Park User Studies
Working with community to conduct extensive surveys in five parks throughout the city's boroughs (Partnerships for Parks)
New York, NY

Riverfront Revitalization (pictured right)
Collaborating with the General Services Administration, National Park Service, Omaha Community Foundation, and City of Omaha to revitalize the Missouri riverfront through access and public spaces (Omaha Community Foundation)
Omaha, NE

Portland Park Blocks
Revitalizing six block-long public spaces separating downtown streets (Association for Portland Progress)
Portland, OR

Rufus King Park
Schematic design (Friends of Rufus King Park, Kaplan Fund)
Queens, NY

Transportation and Livable Communities

Vine Street
Restoring connection between neighborhoods on both sides of expressway, with revitalization of city's historic squares, Franklin Square and Logan Square, and restoring connections to Chinatown
Philadelphia, PA

Queen's Chapel Road
Baltimore, MD

El Camino Real
Working in 12 communities to restore El Camino Real, the historic road that connects San Francisco to San Jose, including station area plans in each community, and housing opportunities for 15,000 new units
San Mateo County, CA

Neighborhood improvements and training in multi-ethnic neighborhoods
San Jose, CA

LA Bus Stops
Creating places around bus stops
Los Angeles, CA

Newark Waterfront Access Study
Addressing access to the waterfront in downtown Newark (New Jersey DOT)
Newark, NJ

Arlington District
Historic road linking Vassar College and a local community
Poughkeepsie, NY

Farmington Avenue (pictured right)
Street improvements for pedestrians, cars and busses (Farmington Avenue Joint Committee)
Hartford, CT

Monroe Center - 9th Street Light Rail Station
Master plan for transit-oriented development at a new light-rail facility
Hoboken, NJ

3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and Roseville Avenue Bridges
Community Placemaking Opportunities (Schumann Fund)
Newark, NJ

Partnership for Public Spaces
Technical assistance, training and partnership activities with PPS' Czech counterpart organization (Rockefeller Brothers Fund)
Prague, Czechoslovakia

Place-making Around Train Stations
Improving access to three train stations through traffic calming, transit-friendly housing development, and improved integration into the central business districts of Redwood City, San Carlos, and San Mateo County (SamTrans, CalTrain)
San Mateo County, CA

Transit-Friendly Communities Program
An award-winning program with NJ Transit to renovate 11 train stations and the spaces around them (Transit Cooperative Research Program & Federal Highway Administration)
New Jersey

Public Markets and Local Economies

Eastern Market Action Plan
Management and design improvements for Detroit's Eastern Market
Detroit, MI

Public Buildings and Civic Design

GSA Courthouse
Mobile, AL

GSA Office Complex
Atlanta, GA

GSA Federal Courthouse
Salt Lake City, UT

Brooklyn Children's Museum
Brooklyn, NY

Downtown District
Place-making workshop (City of Beaverton)
Beaverton, OR

City Hall - Federal Courthouse - Waterfront Promenade
Public space improvement (General Services Administration)
Boston, MA

INS Building
Place-making and improvements (General Services Administration)
Chicago, IL

Federal Courthouse
Place-making and improvements (General Services Administration)
Denver, CO

IRS Buildings
Revitalizing public spaces around these buildings in downtown Ogden (General Services Administration)
Ogden, UT

Federal Courthouse and INS Building
Public space-improvement plan and designation of a "Federal District" (General Services Administration)
San Diego, CA

City Hall Annex 
Seattle, WA

Federal Courthouse
Public space-improvement plan (General Services Administration)
Syracuse, NY

Education Plaza (pictured below)
Design, plan and implementation guide for a new public "front yard" for the Department of Education Building (General Services Administration)
Washington, DC