During the extraordinary security measures for Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia in September 2015, the city center and surrounding blocks were closed to cars, creating a vast park-like area where residents mingled with National Guard troops and roamed the streets at will.

“It was just incredible, wonderfully quiet and peaceful. We were just riding our bikes around,” recalls Nate Hommel, director of planning and design for the University City District. “I ran into Jon Geeting and said, ‘My wife said this reminds her of what I always call ‘Open Streets,’ and what could we do about it?'”

Hommel, Geeting and other city planners founded the group Open Streets PHL. They researched similar programs in other cities and put pressure on Philadelphia authorities to close some streets again – this time just for fun.

Mayor Michael Nutter and his successor Jim Kenney embraced the idea and created the Philly Free Streets initiative. In 2016, South Street was closed to cars for a day, attracting thousands of pedestrians and cyclists. In 2017, the city closed 7 miles of the road from Old City to North Philly, and in 2018 and 2019, the action took place on a long stretch of North Broad Street.