Understanding neighborhood land use

Most neighborhoods contain a mix of uses; few are 100% residential, although there are some neighborhoods in Philadelphia where that is true. Understanding the general pattern of land uses in a neighborhood is helpful to understanding what mixture of uses contribute to the character and resources of a neighborhood and what uses might be considered intrusions that detract from the neighborhood. An understanding of the general pattern of uses is also critical to understanding what zoning classifications will help to preserve appropriate uses or phase out inappropriate uses. For the purposes of this analysis there are eight broad categories of land use that are sufficient to understand the basic character of a neighborhood. Each of these is normally associated with a specific color on a land use map.

These are:

  • Residential low density, detached and two to three story row homes (yellow)
  • Residential high density, larger row homes and apartment buildings (orange)
  • Commercial neighborhood commercial district (red)
  • Mixed Use commercial and residential (purple)
  • Institutional including schools, hospitals, government, religious places (blue)
  • Industrial including manufacturing(brown)
  • Open Space including parks, recreation and cemeteries (green)
  • Parking (gray)

Understanding general land use patterns does not require identification of every use in a neighborhood. For example, most neighborhoods have a variety of corner stores. Identifying each of these is too detailed for this exercise. The objective is to identify broad patterns — entire blocks that are predominantly one type of use or another. Often the easiest way to identify broad land use patterns is by driving the streets of the neighborhood and recording the dominant land uses along each street.

Resources

The City Planning Commission has maps indicating land use and zoning classification for all sections of the city. These maps can serve as a good starting point for examining the use of certain streets or blocks in a neighborhood.

  • City Planning Commission Zoning Maps http://citymaps.phila.gov/Map/
  • Satellite and Aerial Views on Google Maps www.maps.google.com/maps
  • Open - Data Philly, planning/zoning http://opendataphilly.org/opendata/tag/13/?sort=name&dir=asc*