Meet Fast Forward Presenters >> Alex Feldman & Michael Burlando

What is your Big Idea for Philadelphia?

Attytood to Aspiration: Philadelphia Summer Olympics 2024

What’s next for Philly? A profound city personality shift from attytood to aspiration. Philadelphia was once a leading American and global city. It was the capital of the United States and the country’s primary industrial city. It was the second largest English-speaking city in the world and of course, the birthplace of American democracy. But then as a city, our personality changed. We gave up our aspiration to lead and settled on an ‘attytood’ of status quo. The time has come for our city to aspire once again. This shift in personality will be difficult after more than 50 years of ‘attytood.’ What Philadelphia needs is an opportunity to aspire for greatness once again.

This personality shift will begin when Philadelphia bids for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Of potential American host cities, Philadelphia is best positioned to put on the summer games. In addition to our tremendous legacy and love of sports, we have the ideal infrastructure, location, and backdrop to pull off the next American summer games. Imagine track and field on Franklin Field, crew on the Schuylkill, and marathoners running along Kelly Drive. Hosting the Olympics will be a chance to show the world that Philadelphia matters – and more importantly prove to us that we can once again aspire for greatness.

Alex Feldman is a designer, planner, and real estate professional that cares deeply about cities. A native of Philadelphia, Alex studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from the Cities Programme at the London School of Economics. After working at both the London and New York offices of Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects, Alex returned to Philadelphia in 2009 to work for U3 Ventures, a boutique advisory and real estate development firm that works with urban anchor institutions on economic and real estate development strategies. Since that time, Alex has managed projects in a host of cities including Detroit, MI; Brownsville, TX; and Beirut, Lebanon. When not on the road, Alex resides in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood of Philadelphia. 
Contact afeldman(at)u3ventures.com

Michael Burlando is a designer, photographer, amateur historian, and lover of all things Philadelphia. While earning his Master of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Michael restored an 1870's Victorian rowhouse. After graduation he spent two years at the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings, and Merill before returning to Philadelphia with his fiancee in 2010. He lives in Graduate Hospital, works with MGA Partners in Old City, and blogs at brlndoblog.blogspot.com.  
Contact brlndoblog.blogspot.com