A former photographer
focuses on ‘new urbanism’

By Jon Campisi
Times Staff Writer

In her former life, Sandy Sorlien was an accomplished photographer who traveled the world and visually documented her encounters.
She also taught her art form of choice at various area colleges and universities, and even had a book published of her works.
Then Hurricane Katrina hit. From that point on, everything changed for the Roxborough resident.
After seeing the devastation wrought by that natural disaster in August 2005, Sorlien’s interest turned from taking snapshots of communities to helping them change in another way.
Today, Sorlien is certified by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council as what is known as a Commonwealth Speaker, eligible to put on presentations throughout the state on her topic of expertise. For Sorlien, that subject is new urbanism.
On Saturday, the Tacony branch of the Free Library will host Sorlien as she presents Frontage Matters, a program that will seek to push community revitalization through the concepts of neighborhood "walkability" and attractiveness.
New urbanism has gained momentum in the past 15 years as an alternative to urban sprawl. Its concept is rooted in ecological awareness, regional planning and growth patterns that favor pedestrians and public transit.
For Sorlien, living in a community like Roxborough, which combines both a viable, main street-like commercial district with residential homes, encouraged her to press for the mixed-use concept elsewhere.
Sorlien, who considers herself part of the "anti-sprawl movement," said her push comes at a critical time when more walkability and a stronger reliance on public transit could help solve some environmental problems.
At 54, Sorlien said, she is of the generation that has grown up around the concept of suburbanism, something that she feels has its problems. Anyone above 50, she said, has undoubtedly noticed "changes in the Pennsylvania landscape around Philadelphia that blew their minds."
"The farmland was very close to the city, and so much of it has been sold to developers for residential subdivisions that are just houses," she said of the trend that has mushroomed since World War II.
These days, Sorlien is a proponent of SmartCode, an increasingly popular land-development ordinance that serves as a guide for urban design and planning. As an informational booklet describes it, SmartCode "incorporates smart growth and new-urbanism principles."
Since one major factor that contributed to suburban sprawl was zoning, Sorlien said, adoption of the SmartCode model by municipalities could help eradicate the trend of status-symbol homes and a reliance on cars to get around.
"They’re, in a way, cutting-edge ideas in urban planning," she said of SmartCode. "It’s a new system, but it’s based on old patterns. You don’t separate residential from commercial anymore.
"They’re traditional ideas because they’re based on traditional patterns of development — walkable neighborhoods, mixed-use neighborhoods," she continued. "It’s not about taking away cars, it’s about having an option. You just don’t have to drive everywhere anymore."
While the principles that define SmartCode can be implemented universally, the system itself, if adopted into law by municipalities — the method replaces existing zoning ordinances — can be tailored to fulfill a community’s vision of what it would like to be.
"You get a better code if you do customize it for your individual place," Sorlien said.
SmartCode is a rather new methodology, so many locales have not yet adopted it as a planning guide, Sorlien said. However, there are places working with SmartCode, hopefully toward a goal of eventual adoption. Miami, Fla., is the largest city currently working with the planning model, she said.
During the Tacony program, Sorlien, weather permitting, will lead the group — the event is open to the public — on a walking tour of Tacony’s business strip. Seeing the neighborhood firsthand, and getting feedback from residents and business owners, will enable Sorlien to formulate a better view of where the century-old community could be headed.
"I need to gather information from what they see as the problem," she said. "It’s kind of an exercise to help people see the different components . . . that contributes to it being walkable or not walkable, attractive or unattractive. People have a sense of it."
While he hasn’t yet seen the presentation, and admitted he’s not that familiar with SmartCode, Lou M. Iatarola, president of the Tacony Civic Association, said he agrees wholeheartedly with the concept Sorlien is pushing — in particular, that having a walkable and attractive community could only enhance his neighborhood.
"We’ve been scratching our heads, really for twenty years, on what do we do with that avenue that is walkable," he said of Torresdale Avenue. "This is a good start."
Iatarola, who also served for six years as president of the Tacony Business Association, said he is especially sensitive to the marketability problems facing Tacony.
Whereas a neighborhood like Manayunk is a draw because of its eating and drinking establishments, much of Tacony’s business district is prevented from welcoming such places because of a longstanding deed restriction that has banned alcohol sales in the neighborhood.
"We’re different because we don’t attract the same bar/restaurant crowd," he said.
But Tacony is filled with longtime business tenants, many of them mom-and-pop shops, and the community could be likened to an Ambler or West Chester (two boroughs Sorlien used as good examples of walkable communities), if only the powers-that-be see its potential.
"We need to create some sort of buzz that will make people want to do business in Tacony," Iatarola said, noting that attractiveness is high on the list, as is functionality.
Sorlien’s program, he said, should serve as a good opportunity for someone from the outside to view the community with a fresh set of eyes. And her assessment and expertise can help when it comes to deciding what to do to make Tacony more viable.
"Here, we’ve got this walkable town that’s been here for one-hundred years," Iatarola said. "It’s such a complex problem, being in an urban area and the economic challenges that are out there.
"I think that will at least open some eyes as to ‘something is going on here,’" Iatarola added, referring to a new vision for his neighborhood. "To produce a walkable frontage map is something that, I think in and of itself, will generate some excitement."
In addition to favoring a mixed-use philosophy, combining retail and residential elements, new urbanists take it a step further, aiming to see various types of each within a specific locale.
"What we’re in favor of is more diversity within the neighborhoods," Sorlien said, nothing that she likes to see rowhomes, single-family homes, and main-street districts all within proximity to one another.
But new urbanists aren’t necessarily pushing an agenda that isn’t already supported somewhat by the communities they visit.
"We aren’t going places where we’re not invited," she said, noting that oftentimes new urbanists are planners and designers hired by individual municipalities to help institute change.
In the case of Tacony, Sorlien said she was asked by the community to see what could be done about revitalization. And during her library program, she expects to get a little lesson herself.
"You don’t want to do too much research in advance, because then you get a preconceived notion as a designer," she said. "You really want to listen to the people first.
"As a photographer, I was very sensitive to local character. That’s what most of my work was about," she explained. "When I work with a community, I’m very sensitive to what that place is like and what the people like about it, and (where) they think they want to go in the future." ••
"Frontage Matters" will be presented on Saturday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Tacony Library, 6742 Torresdale Ave. For more information, call branch manager David Payne at 215-685-8755.
Reporter Jon Campisi can be reached at 215-354-3038 or jcampisi@phillynews.com