Toward a Strategic Framework for Investment in Philadelphia's Commercial Corridors

Public agencies and quasi-public entities have allocated significant, albeit scarce resources toward efforts to revitalize Philadelphia’s commercial corridors. To date, most decisions about directing these resources have been guided by studies of individual corridors. But corridors and their surrounding neighborhoods are not self-contained mini-economies. Commercial corridors have multiple connections with each other—positive changes in one corridor can have positive or negative impacts on nearby corridors.

This study is the first effort to understand the complex interactions within Philadelphia’s system of commercial corridors with the aim of developing a strategic framework for public and quasi-public investment in their revitalization.