Course Description

During this required orientation you’ll get to know fellow classmates and review logistics.

A time to connect with the new cohort, alumni, and past instructors!

Join us as Broad Street Brewery in Love Park.

Unit 1: City Planning

Get an overview of city planning—the tools and principles city planners use to assess current conditions, chart a future vision and get things done. Learn about the teams within the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the interactions they have with other city agencies that have budgets and how they try to balance many conflicting interests in the community and citywide.

Unit 2: Comprehensive Plan

There are different scales and types of plans. The current comprehensive plan- Phila2035- is composed of a Citywide Vision and 18 District Plans. We’re now updating this plan, called Philadelphia2050, which will have a greater focus on inclusivity, social justice, and racial equity. The perspectives and priorities of community partners and individual community leaders will be crucial in framing this update and help bring it into implementation.

Unit 1: The Zoning Code

Understand the reasons why zoning has evolved as an important tool of planning. Zoning regulates land uses and the type, size, and height of buildings. Real projects will be used to demonstrate three methods of zoning “relief” from the zoning code:  variances, special exceptions, and zoning remapping. Gain a better understanding of how to navigate the code and what the steps are to learn what can be built on a lot and what approvals a project needs. Learn the limitations of zoning, as well as the elements in the zoning code that help preserve neighborhood character. 

Unit 2: Citizen Involvement

Registered Community Organizations play a big role in helping residents understand how they can participate in the development process. Learn about these processes from our RCO coordinator. 

How do real estate developers make decisions and complete projects?  Learn about the phases in the real estate development cycle – pre-development, construction, operations, disposition/re-position.  Understand how community input influences project progression and the best time to engage developers.  Learn about the different approaches taken by market-rate and affordable housing developers. The roles of various stakeholders impacting development will be discussed through a hypothetical housing development project.

HACE, a well-established nonprofit community development organization, has been working against the trend of disinvestment and for economic empowerment in the Latino community. Learn how their neighborhood plan guides their development projects and delivery of social services.

Learn what the building code enforcement process looks like from the perspective of the Department of Licenses & Inspections (L&I) and how to spot unsafe building practices that put property and neighbors at risk. You will walk away with “insider tips” on how to submit effective 311 complaints, and how to use the city’s online resources, such as Atlas: https://atlas.phila.gov/ – an application that combines information from multiple City departments and places it at your fingertips.

How do we create space for community members to talk to each other and clarify items they want to mobilize toward? In this class you will be introduced to methods for creating a shared vision that start from a place of strength. Community strengths, or assets, include anything that improves the quality of community life–talents and knowledge, places, buildings, cultural identity, businesses, institutions, associations and organizations. You’ll learn about initiatives from the Department of Planning & Development that aim to leverage our assets and leave with tools to do your own strength-based community building.

One of these initiatives is the update to the comprehensive plan, which is using storytelling as a primary engagement tactic. The approach the Department is using will promote relationship-building and co-creation of solutions with communities.

The second initiative is Treasure Philly!, the Philadelphia Historical Commission’s new initiative to celebrate and preserve cultural history citywide. This is part of an effort to bring to light the stories and traditions that are part of our cultural resources and woven into the everyday fabric of our communities. We will discuss the project’s work to date- documenting the history of the Broad, Germantown, and Erie- and ways to identify and protect important cultural resources in neighborhoods throughout the city.

Give a 5-minute presentation on a project that you or your organization is working on, or a dream project. Receive feedback from your fellow CPI participants and professional city staff. This meets the final paper or presentation requirement to earn your Citizen Planner Certificate.

This is a low-stress way to get public speaking practice and have a networking opportunity with your classmates and professional city planners! CPI Alumni are welcome!