UrbaNews. Midi:onze. Detroit : exploring Detroit. This Old City. PHOTOS: What Snow Tells Us About Creating Better Public Spaces on E. Passyunk Avenue | This Old City. After record amounts of snow this year in Philadelphia, you could be excused for not wanting to see any more of it. But today's snow actually brought us some pretty cool ideas for public spaces and traffic safety improvements along E.
Passyunk Avenue in South Philly. If you haven't heard of a "sneckdown" yet, it's a clever combination of "snow" and "neckdown" - another name for a curb expansion - that uses snow formations on the street to reveal the space cars don't use. Advocates can then use these sneckdown photos to make the case to local transportation officials that traffic calming interventions like curb bumpouts and traffic islands can be installed without any loss to car drivers. One of the areas of Philadelphia with the best opportunities for pedestrian plazas is E. Even when this parcel gets some housing, there is still plenty of space on the road just to the north for a smaller parklet with a bench and a couple planters: Continuing south on E. Here's the view looking north:
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