Philadelphia is set to gain a vibrant new green space as a restoration project brings 1,500 trees to one neighborhood.<\/p>\n
The project aims to bring shade, wildlife habitat, and paid opportunities to the Kensington neighborhood.<\/p>\n
What’s happening?<\/p>\n
According to<\/a> local outlet WHYY, Rewilding Philadelphia \u2014 a project led by artist Pete Angevine alongside several Philadelphia conservation groups \u2014 aims to remake 2717 Jasper St. as a thickly planted urban habitat.<\/p>\n The plan relies on the Miyawaki Method, designed to produce rapid and dense forest growth.<\/p>\n WHYY reported that the proposed project won a spring grant from the William Penn Foundation. The initiative was also recently highlighted at ArtPhilly’s “What Now: Salonish” event.<\/p>\n The site for Rewilding is a former industrial parcel roughly the size of a dozen rowhouse lots. It is also intended to include space for outdoor classrooms, picnic tables, and a stage, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n “Kensington is a place where there are layers and intersecting environmental justice issues and economic justice issues,” Angevine told WHYY. “We are creating paid opportunities for neighbors.”<\/p>\n The project will also include a Gun Violence Memorial Sculpture made from disassembled weapons collected during 2024 gun buyback events, along with artist-in-residence work led by sculptor Pedro Ospina.<\/p>\n Why is this important?<\/p>\n According to WHYY, environmental justice mapping developed by Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences ranks Kensington among Philadelphia’s neighborhoods most in need of access to public green space.<\/p>\n Trees and community parks can help reduce urban heat, support pollinators and birds, provide gathering areas, and offer educational opportunities for residents of all ages.<\/p>\n The need is especially urgent in a neighborhood where biodiversity near the site has remained relatively low.<\/p>\n What’s being done?<\/p>\n Greener blocks can also strengthen public safety. WHYY reported that the Philadelphia Department of Public Health says investments in clean-and-green spaces are linked to reductions in violent crime.<\/p>\n The need for such investment can be heightened in neighborhoods historically impacted by structural racism and inequitable access.<\/p>\n “The big vision is that this is the first of many such projects,” Angevine told WHYY. “Kensington is not the only neighborhood that is lacking safe green community space.”<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia is set to gain a vibrant new green space as a restoration project brings 1,500 trees to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96759,8921,101887,69,71,70,101888,3425,101889],"class_list":["post-236636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-green-space","tag-kensington","tag-pete-angevine","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-project-aims","tag-whyy","tag-wildlife-habitat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}