Stuart Weitzman School of Design
102 Meyerson Hall
210 South 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
PennPraxis, the University of Pennsylvania School of Design’s non-profit center for applied research, community engagement, and practice, has published a new white paper entitled Civic Infrastructure: Sustaining and Sharing the Value of Parks, Libraries, and Other Public Assets. The paper calls on practitioners, advocates, funders, designers, and others involved in civic asset redevelopment to think about the unfolding of projects at multiple scales (site, system and policy), over a longer timeframe, through an “ecosystem” lens highlighting the importance of partnerships and governance.
Using interviews and case studies, authors Elizabeth Greenspan, PennPraxis Senior Researcher, and Randall Mason, PennPraxis Senior Fellow and Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning, identify some of the leading challenges and opportunities of reinvesting in our cities’ shared civic places. In looking at a nationwide sample of varied parks, libraries and public spaces, they observed “a national trend among cities to ascribe immense expectations upon these civic asset reinvestments.” The authors also found that “governance determines how well a civic asset reinvestment project engages across site, system, and policy-based scales.”
The publication is the second in a series funded by the William Penn Foundation. The first Civic Infrastructure paper proposed the concept of an “ecosystem” of physical buildings and natural places, leadership and organizations, funding, and more.
PennPraxis is also publishing five auxiliary reports on specific areas of practice including governance and partnerships, community engagement, design/maintenance/programming, measurement and evaluation, and economic inclusion, as well as the paper’s full bibliography.
The release of Civic Infrastructure: Sustaining and Sharing the Value of Parks, Libraries, and Other Public Assets coincides with a three-day Civic Infrastructure Summit organized by PennPraxis that takes place June 14-16 at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. The summit will bring together practitioners, officials, funders, scholars, and field leaders from across the country to discuss their work creating and reinvesting in civic infrastructure. The event is moderated by Greenspan, Mason, and Cara Ferrentino of the William Penn Foundation.
Links
Civic Infrastructure Vol 2 (June 2018): Civic Infrastructure: Sustaining and Sharing the Value of Parks, Libraries, and Other Civic Assets.
Civic Infrastructure Summit
Civic Infrastructure Vol 1(April 2017)
About PennPraxis
PennPraxis is the center for applied research, outreach, and practice at PennDesign. Our mission is to pursue projects that enhance the built and natural environment locally, nationally, globally, and within the School by extending public interest design practice, research and scholarship outside of the classroom. To fulfill this mission, we provide opportunities for multi-disciplinary student and faculty collaboration through partnerships with public, private, and non-profit organizations. PennPraxis engages in practice projects, fee-for-service consulting, applied research, community convenings, and educational programs. Our work draws on the School’s five departments and programs: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, City & Regional Planning, Historic Preservation and Fine Arts. As a 501(c)3 educational non-profit, PennPraxis is committed to educating the next generation of leaders in social impact design and promoting the public good.
About PennDesign
PennDesign prepares students to address complex sociocultural and environmental issues through thoughtful inquiry, creative expression, and innovation. As a diverse community of scholars and practitioners, we are committed to advancing the public good—both locally and globally—through art, design, planning, and preservation.
Media Contact
Julie Donofrio, Managing Director, PennPraxis
215.573.8719, donojt@design.upenn.edu