Town Center and Community Planning
Since the Centennial Foundation was founded in 1993 in celebration of Swarthmore’s first 100 years, we have played an active role in imagining how our community will change in the years ahead. Engaging with experts, community leaders, and most importantly our neighbors, we have led a series of planning projects—beginning in 2017 and continuing today—that strive to bring together diverse voices and perspectives to help build a vision for our future.
Transforming Myers Ave (2023-today)
Anyone familiar with Myers Ave would hardly describe it as charming, welcoming, inviting, or green. But we hope the Myers Avenue Transformation project will soon make those words a fitting description. The proposed redesign will make the street safer for an eight-year-old on a bicycle, more enjoyable for a shopper walking to stores in town, and more user-friendly for a commuter sprinting from car to train. As the project is an important first phase of the Public Realm Concepts, we are currently funding development of the designs and schematics necessary for Swarthmore Borough to apply for grants to make this concept a reality.
Public Realm Concepts (2020-today)
How can our public spaces improve the vibrancy, safety, accessibility, and visual appeal of Town Center? Beginning in 2020, we engaged planners from Interface Studio to seek input from residents, students, merchants, seniors, artists, property owners, and community group representatives and develop options to consider for long-term planning. This process resulted in a set of concepts and visuals for transforming the public realm that integrate with each other and can be executed in stages, laying groundwork for future priorities and funding.
Swarthmore Town Center Analysis (2019)
What is the potential of Town Center to support more retail, dining, and housing and revitalize the heart of our community? In 2019, we worked with Philadelphia-based urban planning firm U3 Advisors to establish the Swarthmore 2030 Task Force, representing a diverse cross section of Swarthmore community members. With input from the task force, U3 conducted a comprehensive market assessment and developed a set of recommendations for the future growth of Town Center.
Community Visioning (2017-2018)
After completing the Central Park and Amphitheater project in 2016, we began thinking farther into the future. “What does Swarthmore look like in 20 years? What do the residents of Swarthmore see as a shared vision for our town?” To answer these questions, we facilitated visioning exercises over an 18-month period with different groups in Swarthmore that generated six key characteristics of a future community: vibrancy, places to go, places to work, places to live, easy to get around, and maintained parks.