BROAD STREET - PHILADELPHIA - BOULEVARD OF ARTS

Philadelphia is a very good example of American industrial city that is constantly changing its urban spaces. The city was the cradle of the American Revolution and the first capital of the United States. As an utopian city, Philadelphia was founded by William Penn and as a result of its tolerance is called city of “Brotherly love". It is home to nearly 1.5 million residents.  In 1950 local high school textbooks consider this city the "Workshop of the world” as it is one of the leading suppliers of locomotives, oceanic ships, steel, textiles and machinery. But like most large industrial cities, Philadelphia is facing the difficulties of de-industrialization: unemployment, aging population and migration of population from the city to surrounding areas. The city population ages and the educational level becomes relatively low: only 18% of the residents graduated from college, ranking Philadelphia at the bottom of the 100 largest U.S. cities. Poverty also increased and in 2000 (after taking the last sensus of the population ) 23% of people live in poverty. At the dawn of the new millennium, the role of Philadelphia as an urban center is more important than ever. This unique city has to be oriented to the challenges of the global economy that is becoming dominant, thanks to the development of technology and is characterized by mobility and rapid changes. These changes gradually lead to the need for urban reconstruction. This raises the question of "Boulevard of Arts”.  One of the main streets in Philadelphia is Broad Street, passing from north to south through the city, even through the city-hall and forms the street network designed by William Penn. This system turns the city into a highly accessible location for more than 250 years. In the early 1990's, Broad Street was not a place anyone would want to be at night. On this street were located only a few restaurants and people passed through it only if no other choice.

The work began on promotion of projects that were intended to attract more people on the boulevard during the day to strengthen links between Boulevard of Arts and business in the city center to solve the problems of transport and parking to ensure uninterrupted access to places of interest along the boulevard.

The Philadelphia Committee on Urban Planning in cooperation with other agencies promotes projects on:

• attracting more people during the day
• to strengthen the relationship between the boulevard and the central business center
• between the western and eastern neighboring quarters
• to address transportation and parking problems - providing uninterrupted access to places of interest on the boulevard

Broad Street - long (3.5 miles) and vital corridor connects two very different neighborhoods of north and south in Philadelphia at the City Hall