The Thursday evening “Envision Lancaster County” event, hosted by the Lancaster County Planning Commission (LCPC) at Franklin & Marshall’s Roschel Performing Arts Center, featured guest speaker Allen Greenberger of the Philadelphia Planning Commission. Before introducing Greenberger, LCPC Executive Director James Cowhey explained that the Commission hopes to begin more closely considering elements of design to further clarify its vision for growth in Lancaster County. The evening’s lecture, Cowhey said, was intended to spread the conversation among civic and business leaders in the community.

Greenberger currently works in Philadelphia as the Acting Deputy Mayor for Commerce and Economic Development as well as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Planning Commission. Prior to his roles in city government, Greenberger worked in the private sector as a Philadelphia-based architect since the early 1970s.

Greenberger’s lecture primarily served to argue that “design is not a dirty word.” Rather than being a field of mere aesthetic musings, Greenberger asserted, design is at the very heart of effective community planning.

Taking a page from the world of business, Greenberger recounted how Volkswagen and Apple Computers—two companies with a waning market share near the close of the millennium—managed to rebound largely through the implementation of thoughtful design initiatives. In Volkswagen’s case, Greenberger noted, the redesigned Beetle reminded consumers of the company’s cultural importance and thus reclaimed a profitable niche in the auto market.

Greenberger also pointed to Sydney, Australia as a city that was infused with new life through meaningful design. Until the late 1950s, Greenberger said, Sydney was a city of minimal global exposure. But, then, in 1958, the Sydney Opera House was unveiled with its vivid angles, sweeping above the waterline. It was this design, intended to evoke the common picture of sailing ships in the harbor, that put Sydney on the map.

For an area such as Lancaster, Greenberger asserted, good design will similarly strive to evoke “images from the collective consciousness” of our community. Additionally, Greenberger stated the importance of designing public spaces that “make life more robust” by accommodating and fostering the basic elements of community living and interaction.

One area where Greenberger saw room for improvement in Lancaster was in the pedestrian-friendliness of our city streets. Some of Lancaster City’s residential streets, Greenberger observed during a Q&A session, appear “a little too much dominated by the car,” creating an environment where pedestrians may feel “like they shouldn’t be out there.” Greenberger noticed this dynamic most clearly on highways like Queen and Prince. By introducing additional street trees and perhaps a bike lane, or even repainting the driving lanes at slightly narrower dimensions, Greenberger said, the speed of traffic could be reigned in by 5-10 miles per hour.