Public Park
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Spring 2025
This landscape is set on an industrial waterfront next to Penn Treaty Park, located in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood. The park is known for the eponymous Penn Treaty which took place in 1682. In 2025, Penn Treaty hosts Philadelphia’s yearly Indigenous Peoples’ Day Powwow, an intertribal event open to the city.
The park, connected by the Delaware River Waterfront master plan, would require extensive remediation efforts following years of industrial use and later neglect. It is speculated to have high concentrations of heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and other pollutants. Community conversations have led me to propose a public park that incorporates designated powwow grounds, areas for (future) old-growth forest, and a medicine garden comprised of some of the most useful and sacred native plants from this area. Lenape storytelling has helped to curate the potential plant palette and site design.
The final scheme includes phasing plans for remediation and final planting, as well as dedicated spaces for powwow events and allowances for rising floodwaters and community events at the riverbank. Crucially, this area would be one of the only publicly accessible riverbanks on the Delaware within Philadelphia city limits.
Special thanks to C.L., C.D, and D.D., as well as members of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Nation and Native American House Alliance who have provided valuable feedback and guidance for this project. Project drawings will be finalized in May 2025.