When I lived in Tokyo, and then returned to the US for my last year in college, I wanted to see how Philadelphia was like Tokyo. Ok, so it's not quite as fast-paced, financially important, convenient to get around, blah, blah, blah.

One thing that Japanese learned to do well, once they became exposed to the Western world, and still do better than anyone, is borrow from what works elsewhere and make it work for them. Look at VCRs, Honda's and Toyota's, walkmans, subway systems (London, NY, etc. were way ahead when Tokyo began). At that time in their history, they were at a turning point, b/c if they didn't readily adapt, they would have been carved up like colonies elsewhere in the world. Philadelphia in my opinion, is also at a turning point, b/c we have many opportunities to capitalize on. The expanding airport, new stadiums, many hotels, better road infrastructure that wasn't here 15 years ago (676, 476, 78, etc.), are all reasons why our city, not just our region, is poised to grow. We need leadership and courage to be bring the future to us, not just waddle in our past.

I've posted elsewhere that Philadelphia should try to tap into Asia by trying to get air rights to fly direct to Tokyo. I think that there are other opportunities to improve our city, borrowing from elsewhere.

I know our city and state occasionally send delegations overseas for things like public transit (like going to Paris). We need to get as much help as we can to get our city up-to-speed with other growing metro areas in this country.

I think too many people here want to stand on our historical merits, or our pride, but one thing we really need, is outside money coming in.

What are other areas where our city can borrow from models elsewhere, domesitically and foreign, and make them work for us?

well, I think barcelona is very relevant. it's not the capital city or the biggest in spain but for me, it's was the livability that did it for me. the architecture, the varied art incoporated in day to day things like benches, the fresh food, the metro sys (which was actually better in madrid but sill worlds away from ours), and the plazas. i think a plaza in philly woudl be pretty cool. but aside from that, i think we need to emphasize and improve our livability. things like schuykill river park, actually maintaining our park sys, getting jobs so that residents can work here (barcelona was also an economic engine for the coountry). and of course, embrace our waterfronts.

London is probably the city Philadelphia should aspire to. Like Philadelphia, it also was a major financial center, power center, etc. which lost some of its luster after NYC stole the show. Now it is coming back and is seen as a cool city to live in and do business in. Philadelphia is obviously nowhere near as big as London and will never have the importance London has but its neighborhoods (full of low-rise rowhouses with small stores) is closer to being like London than it is like most other cities in the US.

Philadelphia being like Tokyo? I don't think any city in the US has the type of energy Tokyo has. You have to take NYC and put it on steroids for 10 years before it can be like Tokyo.

Tokyo may be one of the only places where manhattan apartments look big. london is insanely expensive too. we can learn from every city. many europeans comment that they feel more at home in philly than most american cities.

Yea, just not as expensive as London. Office space in London is 2x the price of space in manhattan.

London, Tokyo, Barcelona - all three of them have held the summer Olympic games. Even though it is discussed in a separate thread already, I say it's worth thinking about for Philadelphia, but it requires long-range thinkers, and marketing savvy.

List of Olympic cities since they started in 1896:
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sports/A0845415.html

Other than the idea of trying to get the Olympics, the idea I like best is improving our transit system inside the city, to make it more convenient and serve areas that people want to go, and to serve areas that enhance our city's image. Hal and others have contributed so many good ideas along those lines, within this blog, I just hope the ideas are heard in decision making circles of Septa, PATCO, etc.

Does the Philly/S. NJ region have a regional public transportation organization that spans the whole region? Is the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers the entity that can advocate these ideas? Where else do they need to be heard?
http://www.dvarp.org

In response to El's comments about Barcelona, specifically the idea of a plaza, Philadelphia could build a pretty amazing plaza in front of the Library, if it covered part of Rt. 676, and re-routed Vine St. (not the expressway, but the original Vine St. still at street level) around it. In fact, the architect for the libary expansion mentioned this when I attended the public presentation of his plans, at the library.

The new plans for the library call for expansion at the rear side of the building, and creation of an intermediate area between the new rear building to be built, and the original building. This new atrium-like area is described as the "urban area" of the library, where people transition into library-mode, but are able to congregate and be social, without being quiet.

At the front of the library, there could be a "magnificent plaza," in his words, but that isn't part of the library expansion plans now. It would be more doable if the "Youth Services Center" were relocated and the Barnes Foundation relocated in its place, which was mentioned as something still in very early stages of discussion.

That's not quite what I meant by plaza. I think Americans have a different idea of plazas than spaniards, or placas if you're in barcelona
here are pic's of plaza mayor in madrid
http://www.virtourist.com/europe/madrid/19.htm

and plaza real in barcelona
http://www.trevorhart.co.uk/pages/Pl...-Barcelona.htm
or http://www.gonzalezphoto.com/travel/...a%20Reial.html
I actually preferred plaza real in barcelona.
I don't know if it's clear from the pic's but the plaza are lined with restaurants, stores, and clubs.

Without changing tenants in the buildings, you still could do alot.

Here are some of the suggestions that might happen to the area in front of the library and Family Court buildings that could connect that area to Logan Circle.

The areas connecting the Library, Franklin Institue, Museum of Natural History, etc (including Logan Circle) could become a real gem with some traffic quieting and a real sense of ownership by the library and the museums.

Center City District is already doing some of this stuff - it remains to see whether the other stakeholders will step forward in a meaningful way.

http://www.pps.org/vineonline/place?place_id=68

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

Neighborhood police "boxes" like they have in Tokyo are very helpful and make people feel safe to leave their houses more, and walk around later at night. There was one of these in Georgetown (Wash. DC), and I think there is one in Rittenhouse Sq. as well.

Basically, these mini-police-stations serve to give a safe feeling to people walking around in the neighborhood, and serve as a place where pedestrians can ask for directions, or get a neighborhood map, etc. They are staffed by one or two cops and they appear every few blocks.

Another thing that Philly doesn't have widely available is maps of various neighborhoods. For example, the Philly atlas I have only has a detailed map of Center City. There should be detailed maps available for each neighborhood, these maps would be especially helpful in pedestrian areas. I was at the Italian Market this weekend, and it would be great to see a map available that showed the surrounding neighborhoods in detail, as the Center City map does.

In this time of huge real estate activity, someone could make a mint by putting out some good maps of neighborhoods. The city should also provide these b/c it helps residents and visitors orient themselves.