Special Topic Classes Description Fall 2022

The Planning Commission is gearing up for a “reboot” of the Phila2035 Comprehensive Plan. We’re starting now to plan how we can be more inclusive in the community engagement process. A question for this session is: “How might Citizen Planners be part of planning the process and continue to be involved throughout the Plan phases?”

To stimulate your thinking, we’ll use two on-going projects as case studies on how to plan and manage engagement. SEPTA representatives will discuss lessons learned on the Bus Revolution project, the agency’s first ever bus network redesign. Connect the Dots, consultant for the project- “Framing the Future of the Roundhouse”- will discuss different approaches for a building-specific engagement process. You will also learn about a soon-to-be-launched city guide- The Equitable Engagement Toolkit.

All Citizen Planners took an introductory class on the complex topic of zoning. This session provides a deeper dive and an update on current thinking about zoning. The four general areas for interactive discussion include:

• What were the original lofty goals for zoning?
• How is zoning used to “slice and dice” land use? How is it used as an exclusionary tool in development?
• How are zoning rules “bent”? What are zoning map “amendments”?
• Zoning and equity- zoning’s relationship to environmental justice.

Have you been interested in acquiring and developing publicly owned land but do not know where to start? This workshop will cover how the land holding agencies sell land to prospective developers.

Jefferson’s Park in a Truck (PiaT) initiative is reimagining how social, ecological, and economic networks in cities are designed, built, and maintained. Led by the Thomas Jefferson University Landscape Architecture Program, PiaT is a community-operated green network established through low-cost, fast-turnaround renovations of under-utilized lots. Join us as we test drive the new Park in a Truck DIY toolkit that gives communities step by step instructions on how to design, build and maintain a park in their very own community!

The CPI-in-a-Box prototype was designed to be a helpful reference to alumni after they leave the course. Six citizen planners helped co-create the contents. This session is open to all alumni, but especially those who received the physical CPI-in-a-Box at our September celebration. A prior version of the box was distributed to the Spring 2022 cohort. This session will review the criteria for creating the box, and how it can be used. We want to hear from you which tools have been helpful and suggestions for materials that should be in the box. Share what you’ve learned and how you’ve applied the tools to projects in your neighborhood!