“Rebuilding Philly: Perspectives on How the City can Recover from the Pandemic” is a series of expert essays published jointly by Drexel and The Philadelphia Inquirer in late 2021 as Philadelphia grappled with the magnitude of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the civic unrest following the murder of George Floyd.
Learn More
Drexel has honored Jeremy Nowak's legacy by creating the Nowak Metro Finance Lab, a new initiative he was working to launch to explore ways of financing what he called the inclusive city.The lab’s founding director is Bruce Katz, Jeremy’s friend, co-author of their recent book, The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism, and a renowned urban expert who brings more than 30 years’ experience and expertise in urban governance and finance with the Brookings Institution, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Learn More
Development … For Good is a speaker series co-produced by the Lindy Institute in collaboration with The Philadelphia Citizen. This engaging series brings together influential civic and business leaders to delve into crucial intersections between private development and the public good.
The partnership is supported by a generous grant from the Lindy Family Charitable Foundation. Launched in 2021, the series takes place at the Fitler Club.
Learn More
With support from William Penn Foundation, the city of Philadelphia requested proposals from renowned design teams to create a world-class public realm plan for pedestrian-centric, permanent changes that will dramatically improve the safety, functionality, and beauty of the Parkway. The Lindy Institute is advising the City on this project.
As of October 2021, Design Workshop was chosen to lead the project to design a more welcoming, pedestrian-friendly Parkway.
Learn More
Urban Strategy in the Present Tense is a conversation series featuring notable urbanists discussing their frontline work in urban resilience, as well as sharing their insights about public policymaking, urban problem solving, and life in Philadelphia.
The series is produced by the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University in partnership with the Urban Strategy Masters Program in Drexel's Westphal College of Media, Arts & Design.
Learn More
Lindy Institute Distinguished Resident Fellow Michael O’Bryan launched the The Wealth and Work Futures Lab in 2023 to address the systemic inequities and barriers which drive racial disparities in wealth and income and keep people of color from achieving economic security through employment, education, and homeownership.
Learn More
Urban Affairs Review (UAR) has been a leading scholarly journal focused on urban politics, policy, and governance for over fifty years. UAR is a peer-reviewed, bi-monthly journal focused on questions of politics, governance, and public policy specifically as they relate to cities and/or their regions.
Learn More
Over the course of the last ten years, creative placemaking has grown from a niche activity to the mainstream of arts-based community development. It has influenced every sector of community practice from health and housing to public safety, youth development, and environmental sustainability. It has caught the attention of local government agencies, community organizations, anchor institutions, and philanthropies as an important mechanism for community change.
Though the field of creative placemaking has been built and supported most prominently by arts funders, practitioners frequently piece together funding from a variety of sources across many sectors to make the work happen. In times like these, when arts funding is under strain, the nature of creative placemaking activities could offer potential for harnessing resources across sectors.
Learn More
The Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation is working in partnership with The Enterprise Center to prepare an Investment Prospectus for the Opportunity Zones immediately adjacent to the 46th St Market-Frankford Line stop. The prospectus development process serves a collaboration of stakeholders seeking to collectively share information with potential investors about their development projects and produce positive community impact.
Learn More
In June of 2019, an explosion and fire at the Philadelphia Refining Solutions (PES) site along the lower Schuylkill rocked local neighborhoods and Philadelphia residents, prompting questions about what had caused the explosion, as well as calls for increased scrutiny over continuing refining operations at the site. A month later, after all refining operations had ceased, PES filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leaving a lot of uncertainty about the site’s future as a refinery
Supported by a grant from the William Penn Foundation, the Clean Air Council lead a limited civic engagement effort around Evergreen Resources’ remediation planning and public comment process. Alongside this outreach, the Council engaged the Lindy Institute to facilitate a short visioning process to solicit public input around visions for the long-term redevelopment of the site.
Learn More
Each quarter, Kevin Gillen, PhD produces reports on the current state of the region's housing market. Currently, he produces three separate reports each quarter, covering Philadelphia county, the Philadelphia Region and the Jersey Shore, respectively.
Learn More
Since the advent of the COVID-19 crisis, fellows and staff of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation and Nowak Metro Finance Lab have worked to respond, both through original research and in adapting existing initiatives to address the evolving effects on communities.
Learn More
Fiesta Schoolyards, a non-profit organization with the goal of transforming elementary school yards in Philadelphia, conducted a survey of parents and caregivers over an 8 week period in 2021 focusing on answering the following question: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental and physical health of elementary-age children differently who live in a city, in the suburbs, or in a rural area?
Learn More
Learn More