On Tuesday, November 13, 2012, forty planners converged on Frankford Hall in Fishtown for APAPASE’s November Happy Hour. Practicing planners from the public, private, and non-profit sectors and planning students mingled over half-liter steins of beer and pretzels at Stephen Starr’s Bavarian biergarten-inspired restaurant. While the happy hour officially lasted from 5:30 to 7:30pm, a dozen or so people stayed to enjoy the outdoor firepit in the restaurant’s interior courtyard.
Join APAPASE for a happy hour on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 from 5:30-7:30 PM at Frankford Hall. This happy hour is open to all: emerging professionals, emerged professionals, and friends. Please register here so we know how large of an area to reserve. Food and drink are on your own, however, there will be specials:
½ liter drafts: $5
1 liter drafts: $10.
Any ½ liter and a pretzel: $6.
Any ½ liter and any sausage: $8.
If you buy a burger, you can get a ½ liter to go with it for $3 more.
The Philadelphia Water Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Community Design Collaborative invites design professionals to enter Infill Philadelphia: Soak it Up!—an interdisciplinary design competition promoting the creative, innovative use of green stormwater infrastructure in Philadelphia and other cities.
The design competition challenges interdisciplinary teams to develop new models for green stormwater infrastructure, focusing on one of three sites in Philadelphia:
The design competition is part of a larger design initiative exploring how green stormwater infrastructure can revitalize urban neighborhoods.
Green stormwater infrastructure is crucial to the implementation of Green City, Clean Waters, the City’s innovative, sustainable 25-year plan to protect and enhance local waterways primarily through the use of green stormwater infrastructure.
The competition is open to professional designers. Competition teams must include at least one licensed architect, one licensed landscape architect, and one licensed civil engineer. One of the required team members must practice in the Philadelphia region.
While the competition sites have a Philly focus, the insights gained through the design competition will apply to other cities seeking to retrofit green stormwater infrastructure into an existing urban fabric. Design professionals from around the country are encouraged to participate!
Nine finalists will be selected to present at an awards event at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on March 7, 2013. A jury will select one winning design for each of the three sites. The three winning competition teams will receive a cash prize of $10,000.
Registration Deadline: Friday, November 30, 2012.
Submission Deadline: January 22, 2013.
PHS Tree Tenders hard at work
Join the Plant One Million Team! PHS’s Tree Tenders® program offers hands-on tree care training for residents of the five-county Philadelphia region. The training will cover tree biology, identification, planting, proper care and working within your community. Form a Tree Tenders group in your community by attending with 2 neighbors. Tree Tenders groups are eligible for street trees for their communities and are invited to follow-up educational opportunities!
There are two classes to choose from starting this January!
Once again, a local area has been named one of the “Great Places in America” by APA – Chestnut Hill was named a Great Neighborhood. APA’s flagship program celebrates places of exemplary character, quality, and planning. Places are selected annually and represent the gold standard in terms of having a true sense of place, cultural and historical interest, community involvement, and a vision for tomorrow. APA Great Places offer better choices for where and how people work and live. They are enjoyable, safe, and desirable. They are places where people want to be — not only to visit, but to live and work every day. America’s truly great streets, neighborhoods and public spaces are defined by many criteria, including architectural features, accessibility, functionality, and community involvement.
In his 1975 report to the Chestnut Hill Historical Society, well-respected preservationist Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr., of Pittsburgh wrote, “Without question, Chestnut Hill remains one of the most beautiful residential areas in the United States.” It was not only important to save the neighborhood’s architecture, he said, “but the landscaping. Rarely does one see such a fine collection of great trees and shrubs.”The neighborhood’s landscaping, known as “The Wissahickon Style,” has been emulated throughout the country. Following the topography of the land to shape the neighborhood, this style of landscaping relies on the use of native plants, Wissahickon schist and fieldstone, and other materials of the Wissahickon Gorge, which formed the neighborhood’s southwestern boundary and encompasses today’s 1,400-acre Wissahickon Valley Park.
Link: http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/2012/
