Branding an Innovation District

uCity Square is a 6.5 million-square-foot mixed-use community consisting of retail, residential, clinical, office, and laboratory space concentrated around an open-air public square. Leveraging both the University City Science Center’s 50+ year history of innovation as an anchor tenant and four million square feet of planned new development, uCity Square needed to be positioned as its own distinct innovation community, woven into the fabric of the existing neighborhood.

In the much-publicized National search for a new Amazon headquarters, Philadelphia submitted three potential sites as viable options for the tech giant. uCity Square was one of those potential sites. Thanks in part to the positioning and branding as the epicenter of Philadelphia’s academic, tech, and startup ecosystems, West Philadelphia become high on the list of desirable locations for Amazon to locate.

We wanted to differentiate uCity Square from a variety of other innovation districts by emphasizing the physical intersection of bio-tech, science and educational organizations all in one dynamic and urban location.

We blended Philly’s character with elements of the tech and science communities to emphasize the concept that great ideas don’t happen alone. Thanks to the proximity and community found in urban environments, great ideas happen when innovators collide.