The Ludlow Neighborhood of North Philadelphia was a focus area of Philadelphia’s renowned neighborhood renewal programs in the 1950s and 1960s. However, experimental ideas like selective clearance and scattered-site public housing were ultimately unsuccessful in Ludlow, leaving a neighborhood with large-scale abandonment and many parcels owned by the public sector.

Today, Ludlow is a small but proud community with problems similar to other areas of Philadelphia and cities across the U.S. The 3rd Annual Ed Bacon Student Design Competition challenges students to study the Ludlow Neighborhood and develop fresh design solutions for reviving Ludlow and similar disinvested communities.

http://www.edbacon.org/rebuild/