Northern Philadelphia is home to a number of urban gardens dispersed throughout the region. Also referred to as Pocket Parks, these spaces belong to a cluster of gardens known as Las Parcelas, all part of the Norris Square Neighborhood Project. This initiative seeks to reintroduce culturally significant green spaces in city environments honoring Puerto Rican, Western African and Indigenous Taino heritage of Philadelphia.

Through mapping softwares and environmental simulators, there is proof that the addition of these pocket parks not only improves the aesthetics and cultural significance of the region, but also plays a role In reducing the Urban Heat Island Effect. The addition of pocket parks both lowered the potential air temperature of the region and increased thermal comfort of the area. The cross section graph details the visual difference in potential air temperature when a model of Philly with and without parks are overlaid - we see the spike In temperature without urban gardens present as shown by the red colors in the cross section.

The two graphs underneath define different simulations using garden models that output potential air temperature and predicted mean vote (PMV), a measure of thermal comfort, based on weather station data from 10/19/2016, the hottest recorded day in the Fall of that year and the difference between the runs is plotted on the graphs on the left. The potential air temperature has an absolute difference ranging from 0.1 to above 0.9K, with the largest differences in the areas with heavier vegetation cover, including tall standing trees. The PMV has an absolute difference ranging from 0.1 to above 0.90, with the biggest difference in comfort centered around the garden areas.

[1] Map of Las Parcelas Gardens pinned - taken from Google Earth [2] Main Garden of Las Parcelas depicted; a tribute to Puerto Rican Heritage * [3] Villa Africana Colobo Garden depicted; a tribute to W. African diaspora In Puerto Rico * [4] Cross section map taken from EnviMET, simulated by Ryan DeRosa [5] Difference in potential air temperature and thermal comfort, output by Ryan DeRosa

The South Wilmington Wetlands Park embodies the triple bottom line of sustainable infrastructure; successfully creating social, economic, and environmental benefits.

Built in a low-income neighborhood prone to intensive flooding, the park redirects floodwater into the wetland improving the resilience of current sewage infrastructure and provides residents and native species with a local park all while restoring an unused brownfield.

[Right] Flooding event depiction in Southbridge area, Wilmington before and after construction of the wetlands park. The blue dots represent areas of flooding and the red dots represent areas of sewage system backups onto streets ("South").