Design | Penn Today

Bright lights, big city: How Philly’s new streetlights could make us safer

Erick Guerra of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design explained why night is the most dangerous time for pedestrians. “A lot of things happen at night,” he said. “People are more likely to be drunk, people are driving faster because there’s less congestion, people are paying less attention. We get worse driving on a variety of dimensions.”

defunct factory with green Lehigh Valley in background

Picturing the future Lehigh Valley

Penn Praxis is a Design Partner with the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, along with a team of Design Fellows, to design a 25-year plan for the region called Future LV for ecological health and quality of life in cities, towns, and undeveloped areas.

View of white garments hanging at the Designs for Different Futures exhibit, with a white shirt on a stand and a futuristic wheelchair and mechanical upright walking device on display.

Designs for what the future can be

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Designs for Different Futures” exhibition includes contributions and installations from several Penn faculty and alumni who seek to answer questions about what the not-so-distant future may look like.

aerial view of suburban housing with LA skyline in background

Vincent Reina on housing, barriers, and what we need from housing policy

New challenges to the housing market and its policies are “unprecedented,” say the Penn Design professor. He outlines potential improvements to the country’s largest affordable rental housing programs and the possibility of retrofitting housing to help reduce utility cost burdens.

A bushfire burning in Queensland Australia

Urban planning for biodiversity after bushfires

The Weitzman School’s Richard Weller visited Sydney for a two-week intensive on critical urban challenges and converting a parkland into an incubator for wildlife.

Why removing the melted scaffolding from Notre Dame is the key to its preservation

Frank Matero of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design said removing the Cathedral of Notre Dame’s melted scaffolding is key to protecting the cathedral’s masonry vaults. “Vault collapse would destabilize the entire structure and significantly compromise its overall integrity in every way,” he said.

Visualizing future cities with Zhongjie Lin

A new three-year project called called “Spatial Visions Connecting China and the West: A Centennial Review and New Perspectives on Future Urban Environments” will address global issues like climate change and migration will begin at Penn and travel to Beijing.

Weiss/Manfredi’s ‘Loops and Lenses’ concept wins La Brea Tar Pits redesign commission

Marion Weiss of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and her collaborator Michael Manfredi have developed a redesign for the La Brea Tar Pits and its surrounding park.

a map of the united states with colored dots showing different types of land usage

‘An Atlas for the Green New Deal’

The McHarg Center releases a new collection of maps and datascapes capturing the spatial consequences of climate change in support of a coordinated national response.

Appreciating the need for—and the beauty of—the urban forest

Sonja Dümpelmann of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design was interviewed about the history of street trees and urban forestry. “This isn’t scientifically proven,” she said. “But I think if people care about trees, they also tend to care about people.”

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