Thread by @aaronbgreiner

First time in Philly last weekend, but certainly not my last. Whether you asked for it or not, here is it—Philadelphia #urbanism takes: a 🧵

30th Street Station is one of the most striking Amtrak stations in the US. Truly stunning! Though it is surrounded by large roads that make leaving by foot difficult.

The Porch at 30th Street Station transformed redundant vehicle lanes and parking places into a wonderful plaza. The swinging benches are a nice touch.

American cities stop putting highways along your waterfronts challenge.

Rittenhouse Square is a great public park. Though, clearly it needs more chess tables! These people were using a wall as a table. You can learn a lot about what a public space needs by the way people adapt it to meet their needs.

The streetcar system serves West Philly quite well. It’s frequent, and the trains are fast in the central tunnel (looking at you @MBTA Green Line). Though, signage was quite confusing, glad that’s being updated soon. planning.septa.org/initiatives/wa…

I (and as it turns out, lots of people on this app) love this amazing subway entrance made from an old streetcar.

https://twitter.com/aaronbgreiner/status/1662950203467395072

Surprisingly, there are almost no walk signs in Philadelphia, even at fairly large intersections. Instead, pedestrians are expected to follow the traffic lights. This made walking feel much less safe.

Philly has some great small back alleys (and great housing stock in general)! I’d love to see more narrow streets like this built, it might be the best tool we have against the growing size of cars. Maybe you’ll buy a small car if you can’t fit a large one on your street!

I saw surprisingly few protected bike lanes. There were also several bike lanes sandwiched between parked cars and streetcar tracks—not ideal! However, there were some great off-street trails along the rivers and the fact most streets were narrow created safe options.

Regulations like this are often targeted toward black communities and enforced inequitably. They also rarely do anything to solve the “issue” they property to be about.

Bok is an interesting adaptive reuse of an old school into creative and entertainment space. A great model for preserving good structures and filling them with new uses. More of this!

Lastly, thanks to @think_katrina for showing me around South Street, which I learned was almost destroyed by a highway. Thankful for those who fought to save it.

Thats it! Before I go though, does anyone know what this grid attached to most of the telephone poles is?