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.