Submissions now being accepted — Crafting Corridors: Reinventing the Urban Street

Saturday, February 16, 2013 at the Storefront for Urban Innovation in Philadelphia

Salon and Workshops noon-5pm; Reception 5pm-7pm

How are you transforming Main Street in your city into a vibrant, liveable corridor? Following decades of decline, commercial corridors have reclaimed an important role in the revitalization of cities. Community leaders, policymakers, artists and developers are investing time, energy and money into animating these corridors to again serve their neighborhoods. Next City will host an afternoon salon about urban commercial corridors on Saturday, February 16, 2013 at the Storefront for Urban Innovation in Philadelphia. We invite you to tell us how you’re reinventing a street near you. The salon is free and open to all, so feel free to come and go as you please.

Next City will select up to 15 presenters for the opportunity to give a 10-minute presentation about their work to an audience of Philadelphia changemakers. All presentations will be videotaped and uploaded to Next City’s website, and we’ll be keeping our international audience in the loop throughout the event via social media. To be considered for a presentation slot, please submit the following:

• Detailed description of your work as it relates to a commercial corridor and its impact (600 words max)
• Personal statement about your work overall, or mission statement of your organization (300 words max)
• Visual representation of your work, including but not limited to a link to photographs or video, a PowerPoint slideshow, or other graphic material. A Dropbox link is preferred; however, email attachments under 5MB will be accepted.

Interactive workshops, led by select presenters, will follow. If you are interested in being considered for one of five workshop slots, please submit the following:

• Brief description of the topic of focus and format of the workshop you would like to lead (300 words max)

Submissions are due by January 15, 2013 at 5pm EST. Selected participants will be notified by January 21, 2013; all applicants will receive notification no later than January 31, 2013. We welcome proposals from individuals and organizations based outside the Greater Philadelphia area.

For questions and to submit proposals, please email Liz Maillie at Liz@americancity.org. All submissions MUST include “Commercial Corridors” in the subject line.

Diana Lind is the former executive director and editor in chief of Next City.