LANDvisions
Phase I | Phase II | Phase III
Phase I: Our Voices, Our Future
Community Envisioning Process
May 2005
Philadelphia LANDvisions began in May 2005 with a series of community meetings. A broad range of Philadelphia's residents and stakeholders engaged in a series of community envisioning sessions that looked at natural land and water resources at the regional scale as well as neighborhood structure at the local scale. Community participants learned from experts about the city's ecological foundation—its hydrology and geology, and studied maps of Philadelphia's extensive vacant lands, natural resources, and built environment. Read more...
September 2005 — February 2006
Entrants from around the world are now asked to imagine new possibilities for designing a comprehensive view of Philadelphia's urban fabric that creates a new relationship between ecology and the built environment. Submission of ideas will make visible concepts that reconnect vacant land to the city's existing green infrastructure. A prestigious multidisciplinary jury will review and evaluate all submissions, making awards on criteria that acknowledge a range of design ideas. The jury will select up to five finalists who will receive monetary prizes and proceed into the third phase of the competition process.
Phase III: Reconnecting the Lots
February 2006 — May 2006
During the third phase, Phase II finalists will further develop strategies for implementing their ideas. Teams will prepare a site-specific design proposal, focusing on a designated area in Philadelphia. An advisory committee and project partners will provide technical support as needed, matching professional partners with the semi-finalist teams. Team members will be encouraged to interact with neighborhood groups, experts in the field, members of the business community, and elected officials while developing their final submissions. A prestigious multidisciplinary jury will review the final submissions. The winning submission will receive recognition as well as a monetary award. A key outcome from this competition will be the development of innovative designs that will directly influence the plans of the decision makers and implementers in Philadelphia. In addition, the process will help formulate principles and emerging best practices for issues of vacancy throughout the country.