Occupy Philly As Spontaneous Urbanism, Part III

As we watch the bulldozer and trash trucks arrive this morning at Dilworth Plaza, and read of a 5AM face off between Occupiers and police on North 15th Street, let’s wander through Occupy during a more bucolic time–last week, in fact.

In the beginning, the encampment had features ... Continue reading at Hidden City Philadelphia.

Photopost: Occupy Philly as Spontaneous Urbanism, Pt. II

This is the long-awaited weeks-late follow-up to the first part of this photo essay--especially important since Charlie, Emily Washington, Linda DePillis, and Phillip Kennicott, have all picked up on the same idea. Emily additionally suggests that the same pattern is likewise evident in the annual Burning Man festival.

Primary north-south avenue through Occupy Philly. This Baroque way seems to have come about through campsite reorganization.

A back street in Occupy Philly.

Another Occupy Philly back street.

Packed in tight, but with variation. Here we see how the structural variety and footprint uniformity create emergent urban form--even in a tent city.

Urban panorama, looking south.

Back street. To the right is the tech tent.

This court is a remnant of a previous major artery through this burg. The tech tent, in the background, when erected blocked the through street off and forced the Baroque boulevard to be driven through.

No longer is the homeless tent on the main road.

On the north side of town, space between dwellings grows. Urbanization eats this space away, though.

The north plaza, a huge unurbanized space at the north edge of the encampment.

Heavy-duty urbanization along alleys behind buildings facing the north plaza.

Some tents, such as this, even have claimed "yard" territory.

Another look.

This wide avenue branches off the north plaza and is a sleepy village in comparison with the concentrated downtown area along the Market Street axis.

The north meal tent.

Higher-use tents nestled in a suburban downtown on the north side.

Dilworth Plaza's great sunken area has not been filled in by tents, despite its bordering downtown. It is as much a barrier as a lake or fen, and is clearly separating the central urban area from the north side.

This is not some isolated thing, either. Even the most rudimentary group camping self-organizes as a village around the center of the campsite (i.e. where the picnic tables and campfire are).

I may well get around to a Part III...Stay tuned!

Photopost: Occupy Philly as Spontaneous Urbanism, Pt. I

The Occupy movement has been getting increasing traction and airtime over the past few months, and roughly a month ago (already?) now a branch set up in Center City Philadelphia. Occupy Philly lays on the landscape of Dilworth Plaza, and occupies it the way a Mediterranean city a hillside.

The reason Occupy's tent city is emergent is because it is assembled from a fairly standard collection of individual units (tents), combined together in a highly complex and nonstandard order. It has both the virtues of high interconnectivity and quiet streets, achieved through a natural dual-level street hierarchy. The primary streets are, however, curved slightly and bend along City Hall's façade: the only perfectly straight road is the one between Market Street and City Hall's portal, currently being used as an amphitheater for voicing grievances.

So, without further ado, pictures!

South entrance

Looking towards the core. Note how broad path is being built over

South fountain area. The dry fountain seems to be a staging space

The library

This view shows the concentration of density around the City Hall portal

Looking north along a wider path

The art farts' corner...supposedly

A series of major plazas mark the north side of the Occupy Philly site now

Sharp boundary between urbanized and non-urbanized

Work ongoing. Foreground guy has a rather lackadaisical attitude...

Registration tents at the entrance to the site, 15th and Market

Sanitation tent just off the Market Street path

Amen, bro!

The city: the densest section is on the south side of the site

Looking towards a more pastoral north side

The homeless tent is surprisingly well away from the action. It is, however, on the main path right now.

Occurring urbanization. Lower tent densities, a slightly more pastoral vibe.

A yawning expanse between the edge of the urbanized area (approximately where I stood) and the north services area.

Looking south across this expanse

The sunken "waiting room" for transit--a space shied away from, even by Occupiers

Tents with a view seem to be in demand

The north services area

Far from the centers of the site--the Market Street area and the north services area--the libertarians set up camp at 15th and JFK.

That's all for this post. Next post I'll be documenting changes to the site in the week elapsed.