Shop Talk: The Planning Collective wants to make Philly beautiful

Updated: clarified city’s role

In the city’s never-ending battle between bicyclists, pedestrians and automobiles, The Planning Collective wants to offer a reason for truce.
As Philebrity posted yesterday, The Planning Collective isn’t some official city organization, but a group of seven Penn grads that think the city could make better use of its space, especially vacant lots.
The for-profit company’s latest effort is to make the 12th and Morris intersection with Passyunk avenue into a pedestrian plaza. And they plan on doing it with funding from Pepsi through its Refresh project (vote here).
The Refresh Project is the soft drink company’s campaign to have customers vote on projects that help “refresh their community.” For a proposal to be awarded the cash, it in the top ten of its category at the end of the month. The Planning Collective is gunning to be eligible for the $50,000 grant for May.
“We are committed to changing the way things happen in Philadelphia,” says Clint Randall, one of the company’s co-founders. “We wanted to plan projects that were a little out of the box.”
If it wins the grant, the group plans on creating a pedestrian-friendly area that makes use of the awkward space created by the diagonal intersection of Passyunk Avenue, much like what the 67th Ward did with Madison Square Park and plans to do with 34th street.
So far, The Planning Collective has reached out to neighborhood groups to elicit feedback, and the city has offered to donate in-kind services if the $50,000 comes through. The grant would only have to pay for supplies and the city would help with the labor and instillation.
“It won’t be successful if the people that live and work in that area are not engaged and interested,” he says. “So far, though feedback has been great.”
The project would be the first for the year-old old company that, so far, has been paying the bills by creating geocoded maps and plans for economic development groups and groups like Penn Praxis. But if the project receives enough votes, the company hopes that it will be the pilot project for other, more creative city planning ideas.
“We see a lot of positive moment for the city,” he says. “[Philadelphia] is finally taking some great steps to make it easier to build real estate and do business here.”
See an interview with Amanda Wagner and Julie Thompson recorded by PlanPhilly:
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