The Philadelphia City Archives, an unit of the Philadelphia Department of Records, was created under the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter of 1952, §5-1101(d) to "Preserve all City records not in current use and of historical, administrative, legal, research, cultural or other important value in the archives of the City which shall be under the care and supervision of an archivist." To accomplish this, the City Archives gathered historic records from agencies citywide. As Philadelphia has not experienced any major natural disasters during the city's existence, the City Archives are rich and deep in historic materials.
The Philadelphia CIty Planning Commission publishes its planning documents in a hierarchical scheme : the city-wide Comprehensive Plan, District Plans, and Neighborhood and Community Plans.
The Philadelphia City Planning Commission organizes its planning activities by Planning Districts, also called Planning Analysis Sections. These are large areas within Philadelphia, e.g., West Philadelphia, Center City, Lower North Philadelphia. Planning Districts can change over time : for example, University City was covered by the 1964 West Philadelphia District Plan but has been merged with the Southwest District into the 2011 University Southwest District Plan; other portions of the 1964 West Philadelphia District are covered by 2011 West Philadelphia District and West Park District.
The City of Philadelphia adopted its first zoning code, with associated maps showing zoning areas, in 1933. The zoning code was revised in 1961 (effective 1962), updated in 1991, and revised in 2011 (effective 2012). The Zoning Code appears as Title 14, Zoning and Planning, in the Philadelphia Code.
These maps show land use based upon zoning and site surveys for individual properties, using an activity-based classification of use. Related map series include Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and the 1939 Social Base Map of Philadelphia.
Listed below is a selection of Philadelphia city publications in our print collection. Many are also available via the Internet Archive's Philadelphia Municipal Documents collection.
