How is Urban Life in Philadelphia
Recently, I have gotten a hits from the google search "How is urban life in Philadelphia." That is fantastic. I show up #5 on the search results for that one (probably higher now).
Urban life in Philly has its pro's and con's, but I really like it. It is not too big, like New York. But it is big enough that you an get the advantages of urban life. You can walk almost anywhere. Plenty of variety of stores (both big and small). Close knit neighborhoods. Almost any kind of restaurant of entertainment you could want.
I mention New York because I recently returned from a vacation there. My feeling was that while it was a lot of fun, it everything was just too big and impersonal. Philadelphia allows you to keep the personal touch, while still remaining urbanized. The Center City row houses are a big part of that, and they are interspersed all over the downtown area. I relish the fact that I only have to get into a car about 1 or two times a month, and even then I only drive a few miles. And, if I didn't already own a car, I'd jump at the chance to do Philly Car Share (no insurance, maintenance, and little gas).
The downtown parks are fantastic. Fairmount Park is the largest city park in the US (New York's Central Park is 843 acres compared to Fairmount Park's 9,200 acres). Plus, there are various small parks throughout the city (Rittenhouse Square, Washington Square, to name just a couple). And even well kept neighborhood parks (like this one, with two free, maintained tennis courts, a basketball court, playgrounds for various ages of children, a dog walking area, and even a water fountain play area during the summer) -- amazing.
Not that the city is perfect, far from it. But urban life here is good. Hope that answered your question.
Urban life in Philly has its pro's and con's, but I really like it. It is not too big, like New York. But it is big enough that you an get the advantages of urban life. You can walk almost anywhere. Plenty of variety of stores (both big and small). Close knit neighborhoods. Almost any kind of restaurant of entertainment you could want.
I mention New York because I recently returned from a vacation there. My feeling was that while it was a lot of fun, it everything was just too big and impersonal. Philadelphia allows you to keep the personal touch, while still remaining urbanized. The Center City row houses are a big part of that, and they are interspersed all over the downtown area. I relish the fact that I only have to get into a car about 1 or two times a month, and even then I only drive a few miles. And, if I didn't already own a car, I'd jump at the chance to do Philly Car Share (no insurance, maintenance, and little gas).
The downtown parks are fantastic. Fairmount Park is the largest city park in the US (New York's Central Park is 843 acres compared to Fairmount Park's 9,200 acres). Plus, there are various small parks throughout the city (Rittenhouse Square, Washington Square, to name just a couple). And even well kept neighborhood parks (like this one, with two free, maintained tennis courts, a basketball court, playgrounds for various ages of children, a dog walking area, and even a water fountain play area during the summer) -- amazing.
Not that the city is perfect, far from it. But urban life here is good. Hope that answered your question.
posted by JT at Friday, March 02, 2007
2 Comments:
Can you take some pictures in the Penn Center underground concourse and post them? I've been reading about it from a planning perspective, and more people see it as a failure than a success. I wasn't able to find any pix online, and am really curious to see how it evolved from the plans of the 60s to present.
I live in Toronto, which has an extensive underground concourse system known as the PATH. It's safe and very busy during weekdays, but is pretty much abandoned after 5pm and on weekends. The PATH actually has a lot of decent retail (chain stores mostly).
I grew up in a small city west of Toronto called Hamilton. Downtown Hamilton was gutted in the late sixties/early seventies for a massive urban renewal project. In essence a 19th century town was completely replaced by a mall. This mall was very successful until the late 80s, and is now in a state of downward spiral.
So, having grown up in a city which threw away its past in the name of renewal I'm fascinated with similar projects across North America (both failures and successes).
I guess the question I've been asking myself for a while is: how do we fix the 1970s urban fix?
Thanks!
philly that u speak of?
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