Return of DAGSpace

Several years ago, DAG sponsored a weekly column in the City Paper which allowed several of us to voice opinions about design and planning issues in Philadelphia.  When that column ended, we published a few of the articles – renamed DAGSpace – on our own website. Having failed to post any new pieces for a while, we realize we have a void that needs to be filled. So this month we are re-instating a monthly DAGSpace opinion piece. Not only do we want to advance DAG’s goal of promoting good design by encouraging thoughtful public discussion of design matters, we want to tap the varied expertise of our members to educate and provoke the rest of us about design issues that Philadelphians should be thinking about. This time we have the professional editing skills of author and Steering Committee member David Brownlee, who has agreed to become the DAGSpace editor. Our first article is by DAG member Michael Hauptman, who comments on the explosion of official street signage that now blights our sidewalks. (View Michael’s article here) We will let you know about the new article each month, but hope to increase the frequency if DAG members’ respond with opinions to share. DAGSpace articles are designed to be the personal views of their authors. We are looking for insightful opinion pieces which will open our eyes to things we hadn’t noticed before, propose solutions to problems we need to fix, or share treasures about this City which will make us all proud. If you have an idea you’d like to write about, contact David Brownlee at dbrownlee@sas.upenn.com.