In the world of urbanism — the term for planning, development and design of cities to make them more livable for everyone — there is one idea that stands above most as a desired outcome: the 15-minute city.
And for good reason. A 15-minute city — or what some call a 20-minute neighborhood — is any neighborhood that allows residents to get to their jobs, schools, health care, food and other basic services within a 15-minute walk or ride. In Philly, we have several communities, particularly those along subway lines, that achieve this more or less. But we have a long way to go to ensure every Philadelphian has all their needs close to where they live.
Which is why two particular projects, one private and one public, in development are especially exciting:
- Village Square, on Haverford Avenue in Mantua, will occupy about two city blocks with mixed-income housing; a supermarket; medical center; cafe; community center; and WURD, the state’s only Black-owned radio station. Planned in collaboration with the Mantua Civic Association, Village Square is the vision of Charles Lomax, CEO of Lomax Real Estate Partners (whose family also owns WURD).
- Sharswood Choice Neighborhood, a 40-block area of North Philadelphia that was home to a notorious public housing complex, and is being transformed by Philadelphia Housing Authority into a community that fills many needs: long-term affordable and mixed income housing; the first grocery store in 50 years; a health clinic; a school; and a commercial corridor, among other things.
The Citizen will host Lomax and PHA Executive Director Kelvin Jeremiah on Tuesday May 20, from 5pm – 7:30pm at Fitler Club Ballroom to talk about their respective projects and what it would take to ensure all neighborhoods in Philadelphia could get the same treatment. Guidehouse Director of Housing and Community Solutions Laura Slutsky will moderate the event, which is part of our Development … for Good series, in partnership with Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation.
As Ira Goldstein, senior advisor of policy solutions at the Reinvestment Fund, told WHYY about Sharswood: “You are, by the way this was done, ensuring that those things that pretty much everybody wants will be available to people who might not otherwise, just based on the amount of money in their pocket, be able to afford that and to be there.”
The popularization of the 15-minute city is often credited to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who made it the cornerstone of her reelection campaign in 2020. The idea has also taken hold in Sweden, Portland, Detroit and other urban areas.
But as with many things urbanist, the 15-minute city is not, truly, a new idea. Before the over-prevalence of cars, city neighborhoods provided everything to their residents: The density of housing, businesses, services (and even jobs!) was a fundamental feature of urban living, out of necessity as much as anything else. That changed because of many of the same issues that plague Philadelphia today: the decline of manufacturing jobs near where people live; redlining and subsequent disinvestment in neighborhoods outside of Center City; unaddressed blight; the disappearance of grocery stores and other businesses that provide healthy options for residents in the surrounding community; inequities in health care and city services; declining public education.
Not all of these issues can be addressed through development. But as both Village Square and Sharswood Choice make clear, we can make it easier for people to thrive in their communities if the aim of building projects is to serve many needs: housing and commercial space, yes, but also a library-rec center-health facility, like CHOP helped the city build in South Philadelphia, for example; or re-use of abandoned factory buildings to become housing and light manufacturing facilities and provide community resources, as Shift Capital is doing in Kensington.
The key in both the Lomax and Jeremiah’s projects was an understanding of community needs, which involved outreach and listening, being creative about funding and approaches, and securing partnerships among differing audiences. How — and why — they did that is one of the issues they will discuss with Slutsky on Tuesday.
Join us to find out more — and bring proof that you voted for a free Citizen gift!
Tuesday May 20, 5pm happy hour, 6pm to 7:30pm program, Fitler Club Ballroom, 24 S. 24th Street. $5; free to Citizen members. RSVP here.
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