Also this issue: Size Does Matter Bigger isn't always better, especially when it comes to convention centers. -William P. Becker

September 26-October 2, 2002

cityspace

Green Acres

by Daniel Brook

On Sept. 18, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) hosted a trolley tour of its urban greenspace projects. Donors and politicos mingled as the trolley caravan, complete with police escort, snaked its way through Philadelphia’s barrio of eastern North Philly.

While PHS's Philadelphia Green project has been around for three decades, it is finally getting the attention of the city's movers and shakers. What began as a grant-funded spinoff of the 1970s back-to-the-land movement has become an official component of the mayor's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative.

According to NTI assistant director Cynthia Bayete, "PHS is our lead technical consultant and partner on maintenance of vacant land."

Along the American Street Corridor, the once-booming industrial spine of eastern North Philadelphia, vacant lots have been cleared and planted with rows of trees. The aim is to make the neighborhood more attractive to potential investors. The low-level wooden fences and grass make the urban brownfields look like the unspoiled land on the suburban fringe, areas that developers see as prime opportunities.

PHS spokesman Steve Maurer says the aim of the program is to "beautify as an intermediate step." Maurer points out that beautifying lots usually dissuades people from dumping trash in them, saving the city money in the form of sanitation costs over the long term.

While the American Street program aims to cover up blight, community gardens actually turn blight into an asset. At a community garden near Third and Diamond, local neighborhood volunteers have turned two vacant lots into elaborate vegetable gardens for neighborhood residents. The lack of density that plagues the neighborhood is what makes the amenity of gardening possible in a rowhouse neighborhood. According to volunteers, before being exposed to the garden, many neighborhood toddlers had no idea that fruits and vegetables come from plants. They thought it came from bodegas.

While Philadelphia has become a national model in converting brownfields to greenspace -- with more vacant lots per capita than any other city, it was a natural fit -- the jury is still out on whether these projects will bring jobs to places like American Street or stop the outflow of people from Philadelphia's blighted neighborhoods. What is clear is that with the administration behind the effort, urban greening will succeed or fail on its own merits, not for lack of funding.