Thanks @pasenatorsaval.com and @ingasaffron.bsky.social for joining us at our LIFE AFTER CARS live show in Philadelphia! And thank you @5thsqadvocacy.org and @bikeaction.org for hosting us. And thanks to everyone who came to the show. Philly was our 30th city since we kicked things off in October!

www.inquirer.com/real-estate/... @ingasaffron.bsky.social

This is not cute. It undercuts @amtrak financially and pushes up prices for regular travelers. Manipulating fares should be a crime. www.inquirer.com/sixers/amtra...

Up next on the LIFE AFTER CARS book tour: Philadelphia! We'll be there for a big show on Thursday, May 14th with @5thsqadvocacy.org @bikeaction.org @ingasaffron.bsky.social @pasenatorsaval.com. It should be a blast, as one would expect in Philly! Get tickets: 5thsq.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/ne...

The first experiments to bring neighborhood-style retail to Market East are starting this week. Can they change the way we think about this struggling corridor and help transition it to residential?Today’s column:

Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone?

Lessons in transit-oriented communities for #Cleveland and #Akron. Cleveland has great rail it's barely using. bsky.app/profile/beac...

Unlike other cities squeezed by high housing costs, Philly has plenty of land for construction, even in its transit-rich downtown. I recently counted two dozen surface parking lots, many 70 years old. Here’s some ideas to put them into productive use. www.inquirer.com/columnists/c...

As much as I hate to lose neighborhood schools, @PhillyInquirer Paul Davies’ column pushing back against the idea that all Philly’s underused school buildings can be kept open is really smart. www.inquirer.com/opinion/phil...

Solari, or split flap, boards, in the words of @ingasaffron.bsky.social, are the "physical manifestation of motion. You are traveling even before you’ve left the station." open.substack.com/pub/byerusse...

The block where the William Way center is located is a mostly intact stretch of Civil War-era buildings. Now that the Washington Square West Historic District has been overturned, there will be no design oversight for what gets built in its place.  www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Philadelphia! Pre-sale tickets are now on sale for our LIFE AFTER CARS live show on May 14, featuring moderator @ingasaffron.bsky.social & guest @councilmemberjg.bsky.social. Become a Patreon member or support @bikeaction.org & @5thsqadvocacy.org for presale access. www.patreon.com/posts/152168...

Historic preservation is not the villain! My column (which I wrote before yesterday’s devastating news that a judge had overturned the WSW historic District) shows how we can preserve our heritage and still make sure everyone has housing. www.inquirer.com/columnists/h...

What a tragedy to lose the @curbed digital archives. We saved hundreds of years of newspaper archives. We need to value and preserve our digital production, too, especially in a time of AI and so much disinformation. www.archpaper.com/2026/02/curb...

Shakes fist at sky (aka Vox Media): "thousands of now-historic regional urbanism stories are not readable, linkable, and searchable." (They haven't given me my clips yet either) www.archpaper.com/2026/02/curb...

This. 👇

The common denominator in all these privatization moves, including FDR Park is Kathryn Ott Lovell. I understand our Mayors and Council have continuously underfunded Parks & Rec, but these measly revenues ($200K/yr for Water Works!!) are not worth the loss in access and just lower support for funding

1/ This museum and its leadership are a laughingstock. 2/ This "old movie prop" is not art, but the embarrassing director and curatorial leadership of the PMA, which did not object, don't seem to know that. Big, big problem.

Also is Stallone really who we should be valorizing at this moment? It all feels rather pathetic, like we can't imagine Philadelphia beyond a pop culture reference from the 70s. Imagine if Boston moved the Cheers bar to the middle of the Public Garden! We'd rightly call them pathetic.

Selling Rocky merch from a shipping container. The takeover of the Fairmont Water Works. And now the elevation of the Rocky statue to a prime perch overlooking the Parkway. Today’s column looks at Philly’s zeal to monetize the art museum’s landscaped grounds. www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

The best thing about this viral spat between a conservative influencer and a WHYY intern is that it happened on a SEPTA bus. In what other city could that happen! whyy.org/articles/sep...

How insane does a bill have to be for Philly’s City Council not to vote on lockstep? Where does Jay Young think those commercial office tenants are coming from? www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Consider the arch. And how it’s reappearing in new buildings all over Philly and beyond. My latest architecture column for the Philadelphia Inquirer. www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Woke is over

1) A bit of backstory on @jakeblumgart story aboutCoucilman Squilla’s latest developer pandering to make historic teardowns easier. This is the same pol who stopped Alterra from building apartments to protect the Society Hill Acme site. So what changed? www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

A W. Philly apartment building was destroyed in a suspected arson right after its tenants were evicted and the building sold to shell company. What is this, the ‘70s? Great reporting by Ryan Briggs and William Bender. www.inquirer.com/news/phil-pu...

This feels like the Sixers arena debacle all over again. Via @jakeblumgart www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Fixing Market East should not be this hard, Philadelphia. Some thoughts on the latest mess. Gift link! share.inquirer.com/GQi8Wo

Fantastic reuse of a substation and arts anchor, but I have never seen a city oppose the drive to turn a corridor into an creative arts district as much as Philly has with N American St

Legacy arts institutions are struggling, and yet new ones are still being born in Philly. Today’s column looks at the ambitious Forman Arts Initiative, which will showcase for work by women, Black and brown artists in a fantastic clutch of industrial spaces. www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

When I started covering Philly architecture in the 2000s there were spate of garage proposals. The applications fell off for awhile, but now there is a new crop. Septa is still underfunded, it is still too easy to drive & the world is growing hotter. @jakeblumgart www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

This deteriorating historic Point Breeze church is being turned into a brewery, and thanks to legislation Council passed in 2019 it doesn't need any zoning relief to make the change www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

I hate everything the vulgarian-in-chief is doing to the architecture of the White House right now, but I do think it should be noted that the current east wing was built in 1942 to provide office space and cover the construction of an underground security bunker. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Wing

Can we install updated versions of this on all of Philly’s surface parking lots?

The @phillyinquirer ‘s first architecture quiz, courtesy of real estate editor @ericapalan www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Follow-up: a stirring, thoughtful review from the incomparable @ingasaffron.bsky.social. www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

I honestly don’t have enough luminous, magical spirit caves in my life.

Has ‘Go Birds’ fully replaced ‘Have a blessed day’ as the top Philly goodbye phrase?

Not only is Calder Gardens like nothing else on the Parkway - it’s like nothing else anywhere. This is a great building, as my review explains. To celebrate, a gift link: share.inquirer.com/1K33B0

Wasn't it just a few months ago that the Sixers and the arena bros were telling us that no one takes the subway to the Philly Sports Complex? 🤔 www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

As storms become more intense, the flooding in Philly’s low-lying areas is forcing property owners to make difficult choices, and even abandon their buildings. My column looks at how a church was able to reuse a historic mill by balancing adaptation & preservation. www.inquirer.com/opinion/hist...

Putting a huge garage on a major transit corridor, within an easy walk of 30th Street Station’s regional rail, is another dagger in the heart of @SEPTA www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

This is a really smart take on the Septa funding debacle. Where indeed is Mayor Parker right now? At the same time, the Joe Pittman video is a must-watch for everyone who wants to hate on rural PA. thephiladelphiacitizen.org/septa-reveal...

This story quotes the Robin Hood Foundation as saying 25% of NYers live below the povert line. If that’s true, then we have to stop saying Philly is the poorest big city in the US, with a rate of 20.3%. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/n...

The imprisonment of this public art work is the latest example of how businesses on Philly’s Market Street will do anything to keep people away. When is that task force Mayor Parker promised going to start work on this problem? www.inquirer.com/columnists/m...

Having lived in a Philadelphia historic district for 25 years and renovated my modest little rowhouse, I have to say the answer to this headline is, ‘no’. We all benefit when a house can been used and reused for 200 years. www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Trump is systematically attempting to erase the history of American slavery from our historic sites - just in time for the country’s 250th anniversary. Great reporting from @phillyinquirer www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

Every word in this story will make your head explode. The death of a teenage boy riding a scooter is horrific. But it is not a ‘privilege’ to travel by scooter or bike. Make the streets safe. www.inquirer.com/news/pennsyl...