This is the first iteration of the New Freedom District Cultural Plan.

New Freedom is a new vision. We understand “vision” to be an act or power that anticipates what will come to be. New Freedom is living heritage: honoring the past in service of the future. From the Black Bottom to University City, the New Freedom District emerges from the complex lives of both unsung West Philadelphia residents and nationally renowned Civil Rights leaders to inspire a new generation of civic and spatial stewards to maintain their cultural connections to legacy neighborhoods in West Philadelphia. The New Freedom District has never lacked for visionaries, but now is an opportune time for more institutions to help formalize their big ideas.

In the Spring of 2022, the New Freedom District founders and stakeholders partnered with the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design to research, design, and define the New Freedom District. After several years in the making - first as a tour brochure created by the New Africa Center in 2016 and eventually as an interdisciplinary academically-based community partnership in 2023 - the New Freedom District Cultural Plan narrates the themes and shared dreams for preserving spaces of meaning: 

1. Youth expression, 

2. Active Corridors, 

3. Heritage Trails, 

4. Faith and spirituality, and

5. Small businesses preservation. 

Rather than presume to predict how these themes identified through community meetings will be realized, this New Freedom District Cultural Plan depicts the scenes of a story emerging in the public imagination of the West Philadelphia landscape.

Thus, this plan is structured like a play with three “Acts.” In ACT 01, we offer the neighborhood origins of “New Freedom” as a welcoming concept that departs from stigmatizing truths and bears witness to a different world In West Philly. We center local leaders and “heroes” who have emplaced belongingness and sought to practice resilience amid challenges like displacement and poverty. In ACT 02, we name key sites of “Living Heritage” in the focal neighborhoods in West Philadelphia. Building on the longstanding heritage tours offered by the New Africa Center, we position these sites as ground zero for discovering Alternatives from Within the District through design. In ACT 03, we visualize and engage communities around developing urban designs which represent both contemporary and historical ideas of “New Freedom.” Thus, we end with inviting community action while offering recommendations for how policy and programs can support these visions of conservation, preservation, and stewardship. Some are scaled to transforming vacant lots, supporting and preserving anchor commercial corridors, and some create new tax incentives or workforce retention programs to sustain Black heritage in West Philadelphia.

THIS IS A NEW BEGINNING TO A PROJECT WITHOUT AN END.

TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING NEW FREEDOM PLANS, 

EMAIL: ICPIC@RCN.COM