Northern Liberties Waterfront and Neighborhood Plan
Philadelphia, PA
Hired amidst Northern Liberties’ rapid redevelopment and widespread social and economic change, Interface Studio’s plan for the neighborhood focuses on empowering the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association (NLNA) to proactively guide the neighborhood’s future. Interface Studio employed GIS mapping technology and three-dimensional modeling techniques to help community members quantify and comprehend the changes underway and to enable them to visualize the aggregate impact of proposed future development. Through the neighborhood planning process, Interface Studio encouraged local stakeholders to establish priorities and goals for the neighborhood’s redevelopment and worked with community leaders to better navigate the development and zoning review process.
As a part of this work, Interface Studio was retained to serve as the master planner and urban designer for the 190-acre waterfront site. Our approach to the Waterfront Redevelopment Master Plan is to creatively integrate the existing neighborhood, its character and identity, with that of an emerging new community.
Since the plan’s completion, the NLNA has been using the plan actively. In Spring 2009, the NLNA received a Take Me to the River grant, funded by the William Penn Foundation and administered by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), to implement one element of the Waterfront Plan for Northern Liberties: a Spring Garden Greenway linking the Delaware riverfront under the SEPTA El station to the 2nd Street gateway to the neighborhood. The NLNA hired Interface Studio to be part of a creative team led by DIGSAU to engage residents in the visioning of a new and improved streetscape. Look for improvements to be in the ground by Summer 2010, and check out the results of the public input from the Spring Garden Greenway project in the meantime.
Client: Northern Liberties Neighbors Association
Project Team: Orth Rodgers, Inc.
