Editing Five Public Squares (section)

== Legacy ==

The Five Public Squares remain among William Penn's most important legacies to Philadelphia. Though Centre Square was built over with City Hall, the other four squares continue to provide public green space in the heart of a dense urban environment. The squares have adapted to changing needs over the centuries—from livestock commons to fashionable parks to memorial spaces to family recreation areas—while maintaining their fundamental function as public land accessible to all. Penn's decision to incorporate open space into his city plan was visionary, anticipating by more than a century the park movements that would transform American cities in the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref name="reps"/>

The squares' survival testifies to the enduring power of Penn's original vision. Development pressure in Center City has been intense for more than a century, and the squares represent extremely valuable real estate that might otherwise have been built upon. That they remain public parks reflects both legal protections and civic commitment to preserving Penn's legacy. Philadelphia's five squares stand as reminders that cities can be designed with human needs in mind—for light, air, recreation, and community gathering—and that such spaces, once established, can endure across centuries of change.<ref name="weigley"/>