Meet Fast Forward Presenter >> Owen Franklin

What is your Big Idea for Philadelphia?

Heat Response PHL: More Green Places in Community Spaces

Philadelphia is a city that’s known as being “cool”- great arts and culture, a terrific restaurant scene, and a growing technology hub. But it’s also a city that’s very hot, and getting hotter as climate change exacerbates extreme heat.  Our neighbors in underserved communities bear the brunt of this extreme urban heat, where lack of tree canopy, an abundance of asphalt and historic disinvestment leave residents sweltering. 

Using public art to foster conversation about lived experiences with urban heat, The Trust for Public Land’s Heat Response PHL project asks, “Why do we care about urban heat and what do we do about it?” The Trust for Public Land advances green community spaces like parks and schoolyards as one of the best ways to expand health, equity and justice. And those spaces also cool our communities. Through Heat Response, The Trust for Public Land is working with community leaders, artists and activists in 3 Philly neighborhoods- Grays Ferry, Fairhill and Southeast Philadelphia- to facilitate local solutions to extreme heat. What’s next for Philly is using greener spaces to combat extreme heat.

Twitter: @TPL_org
Instagram: @trustforpublicland
Email owen.franklin(at)tpl.org

 

Owen Franklin is Pennsylvania State Director for The Trust for Public Land. Owen is the organizational lead for urban park and schoolyard redevelopment in areas including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Camden, New Jersey, and for policy and land protection work across the state. Prior to joining The Trust for Public Land, he led an anti-poverty initiative for the City of Philadelphia, working with public, nonprofit, and civic partners that secured roughly $50 million to address concentrated, generational poverty in West Philadelphia. He believes strongly in the power of parks to accomplish tremendous things, and has particular passion for the community cohesion they support in his chosen home of Philadelphia.