The Penn's Landing forums Imagine the river as Philly's 'front yard'

About 400 people recently attended two forums on the future of Penn's Landing sponsored by The Inquirer and the University of Pennsylvania. Here are three essays by participants in this continuing effort to create a community-inspired vision for the city's waterfront. For more information on the project, visit htttp://go.Philly.com/PennsLanding

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What makes a world-class city? The examples of Paris and New York suggest a few central ingredients: density, diversity, innovation, and vibrant cultural institutions.

These and other great cities also capitalize on special assets, such as location, history, and the ideas of their citizenry. Historically, one such special asset has been a waterfront, initially as the city's "backyard" - its service corridor of trade, ports and industry - and more recently as a "front yard," with new housing, recreation, parks and cultural institutions.

The origin and success of Philadelphia derived from the vibrancy of its waterfront as a port and industrial corridor. But the more recent decline in industry, combined with a consolidation of port activity, has left a huge amount of waterfront vacant or underused.

Neighborhoods remain severed from the waterfront by highways, rail lines and vacant tracts. It will take strong civic leaders to realize the waterfront's full potential as a new face and identity for the entire city. Philadelphia's waterfront presents a golden opportunity for a rich and vibrant vision - new neighborhoods, parks and museums sitting cheek by jowl with trade and port activity.

The Delaware River and Schuylkill provide more than 40 miles of river frontage and 16,000 acres, one-sixth the total size of the city.

The city has a chance to remake itself, transforming its image from that of an inward-looking fabric of streets and squares to a contemporary, outward-facing "river city" with an extensive waterfront park system and new residential and mixed-use neighborhoods overlooking the water. In so doing, the city may attract a new class of resident from the suburbs who might find in a revitalized riverfront all the amenities they seek: open space, vistas, convenience, culture, shopping and restaurants.

The opportunity is ripe for the city to create a new, iconic front door - on its waterfront.