PHILADELPHIA – Today Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (OTIS) kicked off a search for a world-class urban design team to reimagine the design and function of the iconic Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

With funding from the William Penn Foundation, in partnership with the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University and in collaboration with the Parkway Council, the City is requesting proposals from renowned design teams to create a world-class public realm plan for pedestrian-centric, permanent changes that will dramatically improve the appeal, use, safety, functionality, and beauty of the Parkway. The City is seeking diverse teams that include professionals with experience addressing diversity, equity and inclusion in public space and public realm design.

“The Benjamin Franklin Parkway is Philadelphia’s grand boulevard, an incredible cultural epicenter that has the opportunity to become a vibrant, bustling public space for all Philadelphians,” said Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell. “The way we choose the team best suited to carry out this work will be as bold and spectacular as the Parkway itself. We are inviting Philadelphia residents to join us in dreaming big about how we engage with this incredible mile-long corridor of parks, public art, and cultural institutions.”

After an initial request for qualifications, a selected number of qualified design teams will be invited to take part in phase one of the design process: An Ideas Workshop. The public presentations are expected to take place in June 2021 and participating teams will receive an honorarium for their participation.

The ultimate design and engagement work will include an in-depth public engagement process, schematic design, a recommended project schedule, and cost estimates. The resulting plan for the future revitalization of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be based on innovative people-centric design ideas and creative approaches to transportation, economic development, and storm water management along with phased implementation.

The boundaries of the public realm design project are 20th Street at the southeast to the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum to the northwest and bordered by Winter Street on the south and Pennsylvania Avenue to the north.

“Today’s Parkway is more welcoming to foot traffic than any time in recent memory,” said Deputy Managing Director for Transportation Mike Carroll.  “The opportunity to provide improved pedestrian connections through Eakins Oval to the Art Museum steps is exciting, and an indication of how far we have come in laying the foundation for a public thoroughfare that is as livable as it is iconic, and as welcoming as it is grand.”

Since the launch of the More Park, Less Way plan in 2013, the City has implemented a series of the plan’s recommendations to improve pedestrian safety and activate public spaces along the Parkway. These include traffic calming measures, such as:

• Improved pavement markings along the Parkway to create more buffered areas that people should not drive, ride, or walk within.
• Added more directional indications like arrows and messaging painted directly onto the road surface.
• Added more conflict pavement markings indicating where one can expect cars and bikes crossing paths.
• Added soft rumbles, which are raised rumble strips that discourage speeding.
• Increased the number of pedestrian crosswalks indicating the best locations for pedestrians to navigate around and over the Oval and Circle.
• Installed flexible delineator posts at key locations which help keep users in their lanes and help to slow excessive speeding and erratic lane changes.

At the same time the City improved and expanded active and passive recreation  along the Parkway, including:

• Creation of the Winter Street Greenway, currently in progress, which includes a new playscape, play equipment, dog run, and site amenities.
• Construction of Maja Park to create additional opportunities for passive recreation through new walkways, seating areas, performance plaza and installation of the iconic Maja sculpture by artist Gerhard Marcks to enliven the previously underutilized Southern side of the Parkway in front of Park Towne Place Residences in partnership with The Association for Public Art (aPA) and Aimco.
• Upgrades to the Von Colln Park playground with a new sprayground and improved the fields and perimeter of Von Colln Field;
• Seven years of successful Oval+ Pop Up Activations. The six week summer activations at Eakins Oval have attracted over 700,000 visitors between 2013 – 2019.
• An expanded 2019 season at The Oval+ saw the Parkway’s outer lanes of traffic closed for public amenities and programming along the Parkway. More than 40% of visitors said they wanted to see more family related activities at The Oval and along the Parkway.

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Notes to editors:
Link to the RFP.
High res images of activity along the Parkway.

The Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability (OTIS) coordinates the implementation of Complete Streets policies in Philadelphia. Complete Streets are designed to ensure safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders. The City’s Complete Streets policy was introduced in 2009 and requires a review of every construction project’s impact on roads, sidewalks, and the bicycle and transit network to ensure that all affected streets adhere to the City policy. This policy improves safety, promotes economic development, reduces congestion, and encourages active transportation. Under the Complete Streets program, OTIS manages the City’s parklet, bike corral, and pedestrian plaza programs.

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR) advances the prosperity of the city and the progress of her people through stewardship of nearly 10,200 acres of public land and waterways, and management of 500 recreation buildings, 166 miles of trail, and 250 playgrounds. PPR offers safe,  enjoyable  recreation, environmental and cultural programs and events throughout Philadelphia’s parks and recreation system. PPR promotes the well-being and growth of the city’s residents by connecting them to the natural world, to each other and to fun, physical and social opportunities. In 2017, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell, set about implementing the park system’s first strategic plan: Our Path to 2020 and Beyond. As a result, PPR is undertaking a period of historic change, setting the department on a course to become a modern, equitable and exceptional parks and recreation system. Visit us at www.phila.gov/parksandrec, and follow @philaparkandrec on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.