Back in January, we updated you on the progress of the renovations at Sister Cities Park, what was previously a somewhat underwhelming green space directly to the east of Logan Square. As we originally told you over a year ago, this renovation included design work from DIGSAU architects, Pennoni Associates and landscape architect Bryan Hanes. In essentially starting from scratch, this team came up with a park that’s extremely kid-friendly, and as a result should see much greater use from now on.

The park reopened a couple of months ago, and word has been slowly tricking out about this great new public space. When we dropped by the other day, there were definitely some people there, but the lack of a crowd on such a hot day indicated that plenty of folks still don’t know about this spot just yet. Check out these photos, and…

In an ideal setting, Philadelphia’s air would be cleaner. There would be more trees and more green space, like up to 42K acres—almost half of the city’s area—more. This, according to a December 2010 Parks and Recreation study on the city’s urban tree canopy. Urban canopy is “a vital asset that reduces storm-water runoff, improves air quality, reduces the City’s carbon footprint, enhances quality of life, contributes to savings on energy bills, and serves as habitat for wildlife,” the authors write. Made possible by an America Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant through the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station, the report found one-fifth of the City of Brotherly Love, less than 20K acres, was covered by green space. Chinatown, North and South Philadelphia have the least amount of greenery, with only 3 percent. The Wissahickon and Pennypack Park neighborhoods boast the highest existing…