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October 31-November 6, 2002 cityspace Lessons From Europe
Philadelphia should look to Madrid and Barcelona for ways to improve. No one does cities better than Europeans. Philadelphia’s founder followed their model. And so did his successors up through the beginning of the last century when they modeled the Benjamin Franklin Parkway after Paris’ archetypal avenue, the Champs Elysées, and placed on Logan Square two direct copies of classical French buildings from the Place de la Concorde. Then, like so many American cities, Philadelphia lapsed into modernism and urban renewal. And for more than half a century it turned its back on the urban strengths so apparent in the old European cities. Newcomers to Center City would be shocked by its desperate condition only a decade ago. Filth and litter covered the streets. Alleys reeked with uncollected garbage. Homeless and panhandlers controlled key corners. The sidewalk cafés that now line Rittenhouse Square and energize East Market Street not only did not exist, but were actually illegal. It took a huge restaurant revolution and the rising economic tide of the 1990s boom for the city leaders to understand that the best entertainment for people on the street is other people. Now they need to continue to put people ahead of cars, unfriendly buildings and empty spaces. The tide is receding on old American cities and the only way to remain viable and vibrant is to become better cities, not to imitate the suburbs. The raison d'etre of cities like Philadelphia has evolved from a center of early commerce, manufacturing and industry along the rivers, to most recently, services and professions. Philadelphia's latest and current role is as an entertainment and visitor center. This is what makes the outrageous hostage taking of the entire Convention Center by one labor union so crippling to the city's future economic health. The overriding lesson of European cities for Philadelphia is not just to preserve the past, but rather to create from it a present that enhances the way people live, work and enjoy themselves in close proximity. People are attracted to cities by amenities such as excitement, entertainment, culture and physical beauty -- the same attractions that draw visitors to Philadelphia from Lancaster or London. The surrounding sterility of sprawling suburbs puts entertainment at a premium for affluent suburbanites. A dramatic example is Washington, D.C.'s historic Union Station's hugely popular complex of restaurants, shops and theaters. The original railroad station was designed by Daniel Burnham, the same architect John Wanamaker retained for his revolutionary store on Market Street exactly 100 years ago. What is so critical about this combination of local residents and workers along with visitors is that it produces the critical mass needed to support these services. This is why Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Manhattan's Battery Park succeed while our Penn's Landing has failed. No country has succeeded with visitors and, especially, tourists more than Spain and no cities more than Barcelona and Madrid, which attract, respectively, more than three and four million visitors a year. To be sure, each city's attractions are outstanding. But so are their urban policies. And they can be replicated. Visitors come for more than just sightseeing. Barcelona hosts huge business conventions. Madrid hosts hundreds of thousands of students. Last summer crowds at sidewalk cafés in Madrid's Plaza Santa Ana spilled out into the square. And understand that Madrid has a worse climate than Philadelphia for tourism, hotter in the summer and colder in the winter. Imagine what it could do with riversides as beautiful as Philadelphia's Delaware and Schuylkill! Spain's architectural treasures shine. But not by accident. And both Madrid and Barcelona abound with scaffoldings covering the façades of historic buildings under expensive renovation. In Philadelphia restoration is rare and City Hall's current façade-cleaning is almost a miracle. How these cities have handled cars is also instructive; they have neither ignored nor accommodated them at the expense of pedestrians and density. Last summer that same Santa Ana Square in Madrid was torn up for construction of an underground garage. At a high cost and even higher benefit, cars park underground throughout Spanish cities, but only in a few U.S. cities such as Boston and Washington, D.C. By contrast, ubiquitous, hulking garages deaden Philadelphia's streets. Jefferson University's plan for a 900-car behemoth on Chestnut Street was just approved unanimously by the Philadelphia Planning Commission. If built, this will drive a seven-story nail in Chestnut Street's coffin. Barcelona is finishing the colossal surreal cathedral of its signature architectural genius Antoni Gaudí. The huge investment has produced an internationally known symbol for the city and the building itself draws hordes of tourists. Philadelphia could do the same with its native master builder Frank Furness from the same era. Few buildings in this country can equal Furness' masterpiece, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. To thrive in this century, Philadelphia needs to distinguish itself even more from the sameness of the surrounding suburbs and become more like its great European models. Charles F. Thomson consults in media relations with nonprofit clients and is a member of the Design Advocacy Group. 
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