Mill Creek

As we got off the bus and walked towards Mill Creek Farm it was clear from the physical surroundings that this a neighborhood that has been struggling to get the attention that it needs. Similar to the story of the Dudley Street community, it is a place that is being attacked by gentrification of “modern” homes that visually make the streets nicer but fail to solve the real problem of the neighborhood. Just as the Dudley Street community and many other neighborhoods that are of low income, Mill Creek is facing the issue of people illegally dumping, very limited affordable housing, and overall poor maintenance of the neighborhood both from the surrounding community but also the local government. For a community to bounce back from this hole of hopelessness that many community members feel due to the lack of attention from the local government, the members of the community must make the initiative to come together and say that enough is enough. This is what the Dudley Street community did, this is what the Mill Creek Farm is attempting to do currently. A major step in the right direction of claiming the neighborhood as their own was the creation of the Mill Creek Farm.

            Mill Creek neighborhood is a neighborhood that has faced a struggling history and they have not forgotten that history. In the 1880s, the city of Philadelphia and other interested parties like real estate developers decided that Mill Creek should no longer be above ground instead it should be redirected underground so that housing and other kind of taxable property can be built on top of this valuable land. The 20ft cement and brick pipe remains there today carrying the sewage and rainwater of West Philadelphia into the Schuylkill River however it has caused problems for the neighborhood since its existence. During its existence many architects and developers who appear to have no landscape literacy, have tried to build apartment complexes on top of the land which the pipe runs under. Due to the poor construction of the pipe the land does not have enough strength to withstand a large project such as the apartment complexes and as a result many projects have collapsed and been condemned and demolished. It is clear that this land is not meant for the construction of heavy buildings and an adaptation has been made with the introduction of community gardens. The Mill Creek Farm on 49^th and Brown St. is the community garden that we visited and is a tremendous size. As we were given the tour it was really amazing that someone who was not even there during the construction of the pipe still felt the backlashes of the construction of the redirection of Mill Creek. On the water barrels they had art that reminded them and the people who came into the garden that this pipe is not something to forget but to remember and push forward.

            The Mill Creek Farm is much more than just a remembrance of the past; it is a space that now provides the community for the opportunity to participate in civil ecology which provides a plethora of positive benefits. According the book, Civic Ecology being around nature and living things boost people’s happiness and overall mental health. For a community that is like Mill Creek, who faces all the struggles of living in a low-income neighborhood the community garden provides a place for the people of the community to relax and improve their mental health. Obviously the garden does much more than this, it is a place for the community that may have had tensions come together and tear down those barriers in a neutral space. Though it does have an extended amount of benefits the

benefit that I found most interesting is the educational benefits. It is safe to say that many people in the city may not have the best experience/knowledge of gardening due to there being very limited spaces/opportunities for urban residents to explore gardening. Also, many community gardens are just a common place for the surrounding community to have the opportunity to grow food of their choice in their designated raised bed. But Mill Creek Farm took on the responsibility of being a place that not only can people freely choose the food that they wish to grow and give them their own space for it. They also provide opportunities for the people of the community to come and learn the basics of gardening so that they do not feel like they are excluded just because they do not know how to farm. This was one of the most powerful aspects that I see at the Mill Creek Farm, as we got off the bus and into Mill Creek Farm it was about the same time that the school a couple blocks down got out of school. For me growing up, once school ended I got on my bus and went home and maybe played outside or stuck inside. But for the students at the nearby school they ran down the street towards the garden and were jumping up and down filled with excitement to be back again. The kids gathered up in their group and got right to work with peeling garlic and walked around the garden to see how the crops were doing. In the study done by Katharine Travaline and Christian Hunold on Urban agriculture and ecological citizenship in Philadelphia, they spoke specifically about the benefits that come from community gardens like Mill Creek Farm. They looked at UC High School students who were noted as learning farming skills, marketing skills, and how to work together to achieve their goals. It is safe to assume that the same phenomenon is occurring to the students that go to the Mill Creek Farm after school, it takes a lot of hard work to maintain a farm and be able to continually grow/sell food. Learning these kind of skills at a young age is extremely beneficial for their future and makes them more resourceful individuals. It is interesting to think about now, that people who are in a much worse situation that I was growing up and going to school are able to learn things that I was not given the chance since many suburban schools do not have a local garden.

            Although the community that surrounds Mill Creek Farm is not anywhere close to being perfect, they were forced to deal with the poor decision of the construction of the Mill Creek pipe and have made a significant improvement to their neighborhood. They have come together as a community and made clear that enough is enough. It is a neighborhood that faces similar struggles that other low-income neighborhoods face but are deciding to rise above the walls and become a vibrant community that is self-reliant. The Mill Creek Farm is a landmark for the community and is essential to the longevity of the community. 

The Struggle of Sustainable Urban Advancement

               Presently the world is facing an epidemic, this epidemic is beginning to impact the daily lives of every individual in this world. The epidemic is called many things, some call it global warming others call it climate change, it may have many names but the similarity between them is that our earth is currently experiencing a change in the climate which is resulting in a multitude of changes to occur around the world. Individuals around the globe are being forced to adapt to these changes by leaving their destroyed home and community behind and seek shelter for a new place to call home. I watched the film Before the Flood, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio who explores the globe to see the true impact of climate change. This film although it was not required in the class a fellow student suggested it in class and I had to watch it. The film opened up my eyes to the severity of the issue and helped me connect the dots of everything that we have been talking about in class. Due to the change in the climate forcing people out of their homes, a massive amount of people will be seeking for a new place and a majority will resort to going into a city.

               Cities are a complicated subject while being in the same discussion as climate change since cities are a major contributor to the production of carbon emissions forcing a change in the climate. That being said they are also the best place for an individual or family who was been displaced from the repercussions of a change in our climate to seek shelter and start a new beginning. This means that cities are not something that we can make a shift away from and resort back to the open land that surrounds the cities. Instead they are here to stay so we have to adapt them to remain evident in the future. For cities to remain evident and a part of our lives, cities across both the United States and the globe must take an action in reforming their current infrastructure into sustainable infrastructure that addresses the current climate issues that cities create, so that they lessen the impact that cities are having on climate change. The issues that they create range from massive amounts of waste, littering in both the streets and water, general emissions from cars, buses, trains, and the factories that reside within the city. The list can go on, but just as the list can go on about the negative ways a city impacts the climate another list can go just as long on how the city can positively adapt to sustainable


practices that will only help. Many cities around the world are beginning to understand the urgency and the immense amount of benefits that come from sustainable design and currently are making policy changes that are encouraging more sustainable approaches, many European cities are doing so and the city of Philadelphia has recently initiated the Green City, Clean Waters plan which aims to reduce the amount of storm water/dirty water that enters the sewage system.

               For Philadelphia the plan to reduce the amount of contaminated water that goes into the sewage system enables the city to have a more efficient water system and would lessen the amount of pollution that goes into the Delaware River. Currently the city is running on a combined sewage system which means that both the storm water and waste water are being directed into the same pipe and when there is a storm the two different types of water mix together and increase the amount of water that needs to be processed. Personally I see this is as something that should be on the top of the cities to do list knowing the large amount of time that it takes for the water department to make the water drinkable. I know this because I have seen it with my own eyes while being taken on a tour of the Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant with Philadelphia Water. Seeing the amount of time and chemicals that are needed to recycle water back to our homes for us to use has led me to a believer in changing the city’s urban environment to a design that is focused around reducing the carbon footprint of both the city as a whole and its occupants. The Green City, Clean Water plan is something that just does that by introducing green roofs, curb sides, and other green practices the city will be able to reduce its carbon footprint. Cities have always played a major role in enforcing the way that people live within its limits, but these enforcements have not always been thought of in terms of environmental issues. Yet historically the city has played a major role in setting limits/restrictions that promote healthy choices for the people in the city. The Cities and Nature textbooks speaks about three different historic cities, Athens, Sicily, and medieval York who each made changes on the rules for the city that make the people that go into the city practice more green practices. For example, medieval York may be the best to talk about since it was like Philadelphia and wanted to fix the pollution that the city was doing to the air and water. The pigsties were crowding the streets and were polluting the air and water with their stench and leaving the dung in the streets, however once it was causing an inconvenience to the people and I guess more importantly the king, the pigsties were abolished from being kept near the street. During the time it was a magnificent solution to solving the polluted water and air that the residents of the city were facing. Not only was it a great example of simple green practices, it also shows the way that substantial change is made in sustainable practices. The way this is done is from the city’s government acknowledging there is a problem and making the steps that need to be done, usually in form of policy, to solve the problem. At the end of the day it is up to the government and governmental funding to make sufficient progress in sustainability.

               The influence that the government has on improving the urban environment in the city is tremendous, it was obvious after reading the Green City, Clean Water plan in class and after going on a tour with the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. I found this tour very helpful to my understanding of the relationship and teamwork that is required between the planners/organization and the local government. The Civic Ecology book refers to this relationship, and speaks of the need for the relationship between the two. The author speaks on how the government can “provide financial and technical support, as well as enabling legislation that grants land tenure and management rights to civic ecology practices, while allowing the nonprofit and community organizations to play the lead role.” This quote perfectly acknowledges the fact that there is a need for help from the government however receiving aid still allows the people who have a vision for a sustainable design are able to follow through with their idea and have it legal. For the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, they have big plans for the waterfront that has the potential to not only economically benefit the areas but also according to their master plan are going to incorporate green infrastructure and open space and reduce the amount of non-permeable surface along the waterfront. It has the ability to be a major economic benefit and environmental friendly design, but for it to be completed it requires a substantial amount of money to come from government funding and on top of that it must follow city zoning. To sum it up, the government is going to have a major role in deciding whether this design is going to happen and it seems that the city government is always in this Civic Ecology and Cities and Nature they both have designated entire chapters on the influence that policy has on green practices, it was even mentioned on the tour of the waterfront. It is clear that policy has a major influence on the advancement of our city, and as the world is getting warmer it is going to be on the local government to approve and fund sustainable plans and continue to implement plans like the Green City, Clean Water as ways to make the urban environment cleaner and healthier.
position. Whether you are talking about the city of Philadelphia or even Miami the same thing is happening, there are major plans for sustainable urban advancement but the plans are not receiving enough help. After reading both the

The Big Green Block

The Big Green Block is such a remarkable project that has taken place in Fishtown or Kensington whatever you want to call it. When I was told that we were going to go here for our first field trip I could not help myself from being so excited to see the green movement that Philadelphia is promoting at work. As we took the bus ride to the location I could see that there was indeed a need for the area to have more green infrastructure integrated into the community, the open trash filled lots and falling apart buildings were screaming for help. That being said, I did not really have a solid idea on how the green initiative would be successfully integrated into the community. Which is something I feel is all too common for most urban communities, the idea of green infrastructure and having a more sustainable place to live sounds like something everyone wants but all too often it is too problematic to actually put into reality. This is why I was ready to see the Big Green Block, and did that block shock me.

                Honestly, there are so many things that the Big Green Block did superbly I do not know where the best place to start. The green roof? The rain gardens? Permeable parking lots? Outdoor athletic facilities? Or even the dog park? As you can see there are so many things that can be touched on because it felt as though when the city was looking at this block, they wanted to build a perfect model of how every example of green infrastructure you can think of can work so perfectly when intertwined with each other, instead of thinking of them as separate projects for a place. Many times when I hear about green infrastructure I think of it as individual success stories of one type of green infrastructure, for example a wind turbine being installed on top of a light post to create electricity for the light or a house having solar panels installed on top of their roof. While these two examples are nothing to look down upon due to them still being a great step towards being more sustainable, I think what the Big Green Block did was show that is possible to mix a multitude of types of green infrastructure in one project. The importance of their success of doing this is that it shows the city and investors that projects like this is a possibility for any given area. This is a pivotal step in the movement of becoming a greener city which is a more tangible after this project and no longer is it such an outlandish idea to recreate the city’s infrastructure into a more sustainable design.

                  As we were walking around the school I found it so exciting looking at how the younger people who lived around/interacted with the Big Green Block. As we walked around just the school we saw each of the mini areas of the block being used. The football field was consistently being filled with kids running out of school on their way to practice after school. The mini turf field that they made was surrounded by parents full of joy as they saw their little kids try their best to play soccer. The dog park had a constant rotation of new dogs sneaking in to see who was in their new hang out spot. The park behind the school was being tackled by little children that saw the equipment as a castle that needed to be conquered. And even the new soccer/baseball field was getting set up for an older age group of soccer players ready for practice. The fact that all of these areas were being used and at the same time just puts the cherry on the top for how necessary of a project the Big Green Block is for the revolving community. These types of projects are not only supposed to be environmentally friendly and some see that as the main factor pushing it. However, I believe that an equally important factor for these type of projects is the impact that it has on community involvement, interaction, and unity. A green common space for a community is a powerful and simplistic way of easing any sort of tensions in the community and allow members of the community a place to interact with people who they might not have talked to if they were just walking on the street. Just imagine the community revolving around the Big Green Block, if this project was not done where would they go to have football or soccer practice? Where would they take their dogs to play? Incorporating green infrastructure into a neighborhood that allows multiple uses besides just looking at it (like rain gardens) gives the people in the community the ability to do activities that they never would have the opportunity without traveling an extreme distance. The Big Green Block project was much more than just a project to fill the quota of green space, it was a model showing how to integrate a multitude of green infrastructure that relied on each other while also creating a new space for the community to do endless activities. 

South Street Field Trip

              On the 27^th of September we ventured our way into the complex neighborhood of South Philadelphia, the neighborhood that is known to expand north and south of South Street. I have been to this area a multitude of times; I think just about every Temple student has due to it being such a high tourist attraction today. From an outside perspective that knows very little of the Philadelphia history and the current state of the city, this outsider would not really think of anything while walking down South Street. Most likely the individual would fall in love with the present state of the street; endless stores line the street offering whatever someone can think of, the streets are clean enough compared to most areas, and overall it seems like a nice safe neighborhood. However, after going on a tour and learning about the history of the South Street neighborhood I cannot get a solid grasp on how I feel about the current state. One side of me wants to fall in love with how progressed and higher class this neighborhood has turned into because at the end of the day that is what a successful city must have. Yet on the other hand I just feel like so much of what Dubois saw and the struggles that he felt this neighborhood had been, are still there but just behind the cover of modern hipster takeover. Let me explain both of my struggling feelings on this neighborhood and maybe the correct opinion on this neighborhoods state will arise.

                To begin, I think the best option is to show the progression that this neighborhood has had since the time Dubois had walked the streets. Presently, I believe that this neighborhood is perfect in resembling what the entire city of Philadelphia will eventually look like. The newly Indigo Bike initiative is present on the street, in the harbor of the South Street attractions. These attractions are the dominating Whole Foods and Starbucks. I think Whole Foods is such an interesting store, it is a symbol of progress and the completion of gentrification of a neighborhood. It is a store that is supposed to help with the food security epidemic that so many urban residents face but at such a high cost that results in pushing the people that are facing the food security epidemic somewhere else due to them not being able to afford such a high cost grocery store. Besides the Wholes Foods pushing a group of people out, I think a lot of success that South Street has seen with all of these small businesses and mixing in the big name corporations have inevitability pushed the neighborhood that Dubois was talking about further south. I have personal experience of where I was walking on South Street, and when I am walking to a destination I have learned that the beauty of a city is to not take the same path to the same destination because you are able to see so much more. So as I was walking toward 2^nd and South Street, I did this strategy of not taking the same path and ventured further south. Never did I feel unsafe, but I did realize that this “beautiful area” that South Street tries to portray is just a big curtain covering the low-income neighborhood that resides just a couple blocks south. This is where my struggling of how I feel about the neighborhood arises, the problem of the neighborhood never really was fixed it just was pushed away. There is still an evident problem of poverty in the southern area of Philadelphia along South Street. As we walked I spotted a homeless man sleeping alongside the wall of the beautiful Whole Foods.  Although the city has tried its best to help the torn area of South Street, they have only been using a curtain to show the possibility that the area has. Do not get me wrong though, while I do have criticism of the area and how the progress is going about I still feel as though this area is doing a spectacular job of trying to be a model of what the entire city could be like.

                On a more positive note, I think that what South Street and its residents are doing correctly is being a resemblances of the positives of what I like to call the “hipster” movement can bring to an area. The ability to ride a bike and get just about anything you need off of one street is remarkable, it makes people of the middle/upper class have such an ease of getting what they need. Not only does the street looking visually appealing and on the way up as a neighborhood, it also has integrated the art community in spectacular way. The buildings revolving the mosaic garden are covered with creative and one of a kind pieces of art that make the space feel much more personable and safe. Not only have they brought in the art community but they did not forget about their past which I think is the prominent thing making me support the present state of the street/neighborhood. They have a gigantic mural showing the past of Dubois and the problem that he saw in the Black community in the South Street neighborhood, which helps remind people that decided to take notice of it that this neighborhood was not always like this. To conclude, I think typing out my thoughts on this area helped me solidify how I do feel about the current state neighborhood. I believe that this neighborhood is still progressing and is nowhere near being done (although which neighborhood is done) but I think that currently the way that are trying to push this neighborhood forward is a positive one. 

Have people most likely gotten screwed over and pushed out of their homes? Definitely. But that is sadly a natural part of progress of a neighborhood, it is impossible to raise the overall value of an area and not run into people being unable to afford it. That being said there is a right way and a wrong way, I think that South Street tried its best to not completely throw the people out but I have no evidence for that so who knows. What I do know is a fact is that walking down the street of South Street is a riveting experience of fun shops, creative art, and clean streets. So with that I would say that although I have a couple issues with how the street is currently, I support where it is now and I am excited to see how it moves forward. And thank you so much whoever denied the plan to turn South Street into a highway.