A Resilient Vision for Historic FDR Park

Philadelphia’s 348-acre FDR Park — designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1914 and the site of the city’s 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition — is both the primary recreational amenity for 170,000 South Philadelphia residents and a key asset that performs critical environmental functions amidst a changing climate. A plan now being implemented calls for $250 million in investment over the next decade to reclaim the park’s historic vision, restore its environmental functions, and nurture its role as South Philadelphia’s cultural, recreational, and economic centerpiece.

Learn about the robust civic engagement process that drove the plan; hear about the challenges of planning for a complex, high-profile park with regional significance; and tour the latest achievements, including the future Welcome Center and Pattison Playground.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when use of the park’s golf course was restricted, residents enjoyed expanding meadows. The plan has since been revised to include new areas of forested wetlands, thereby adapting to ecological and community needs while improving the park’s function.

Attendees walk on uneven surfaces. This is a hard-hat tour.