The Master Plan

A Master Plan was developed jointly between the Friends of Dickinson Square Park and Volunteers for the Community Design Collaborative in 2008.  The Master Plan represented a giant leap forward in providing an articulated vision, complete with itemized cost estimates, of the complete renovation of the Park. 

Dickinson Square Park has not seen any fundamental physical renovations in the previous 25 years.  The Friends have planted trees, shrubbery, and flowers, and have helped to keep the Park clean and pleasant, but significant swaths of pavement are in disrepair, the playground equipment is outdated, the electric lighting leaves much to be desired, and the trees and lawn areas have not been maintained.  

The Master Plan addresses all of these issues, but goes further in envisioning the Park in the context of a true public place, where not only children play and people walk their dogs (always on a leash), but where people gather for activities ranging from movies and concerts to workshops, and where neighbors gather to chat, catch up, stay connected, and truly be that rarest of animals: a vibrant urban community that's a great place to live.

Below is the link to the original Master Plan for the Park.  This is a large .pdf document, over 60 MB in size.  When you click the link, a dialog box will appear asking whether you would like to open this document or save it.  It is strongly recommended that you save this document to your computer, and then open it when it has finished downloading.  Simply opening the document from this site will take a lot of time for it to load. 

 DSP Master Plan (60.88 MB)

The Master Plan was the jumping-off point for the actual planning and budgeting that will make the complete renovation of the Park a reality, with construction likely to begin in the late winter of 2011.  Please note that the Master Plan represents a rough sketch of ideas.  The concrete details are still in the works, but a refined plan, based on the Master Plan is being crafted by City of Philadelphia landscape architects and the Department of Recreation.  Details will be posted here as they become available.