DEPARTMENT OF
COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING, PENNSYLVANIA PLANNING ASSOCIATION
CELEBRATE
WORLD TOWN PLANNING DAY
It is not hyperbole to say that without Edmund Bacon, Philadelphia would not be the city that it is today.
A groundbreaking urban planner, Bacon, who passed away on October 14, shaped today’s Philadelphia.
To celebrate World Town Planning Day, the Temple University Department of Community and Regional Planning, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Planning Association, presented a special showing of the film “Ed Bacon: Form, Design, and the City.” The program, which was free and open to the public, was held on November 9.
“World Town Planning Day is celebrated today in about 30 countries on four continents. The goal is to highlight the valuable contributions sound planning has made to the quality of human life and the environment,” said Dr. Jeffrey Featherstone, Chair of the Department of Community and Regional Planning and Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities at Temple University Ambler. “Ed Bacon did so much to progress the concept of urban planning, particularly in this region, that it is only natural that we recognize his achievements as part of this celebration.”
In 1949, Bacon became Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, during which time he conceived and implemented several important projects that have shaped Philadelphia, including Penn Center, Market East, Penn’s Landing, Society Hill, Independence Mall, and the Far Northeast. He graced the cover of Time magazine in 1964 and Life magazine devoted a cover story to his work in 1965.
After retirement, Bacon continued to be a strong influence in Philadelphia, proposing new concepts to improve Independence Mall, Penn's Landing, and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. In 2002, at the age of 92, he rode a skateboard in LOVE Park, the plaza he designed in 1932. Bacon died in October at the age of 95.
For more information on World Town Planning Day, contact publicinfo@planning.org.
CONTACT: James Duffy, 215-283-1290, duffyj@temple.edu, release available by e-mail
