Urban Planning ideas for Cleveland? (Euclid, Alliance: for sale, apartments, skatepark)

[RioDominicana]

Hey everybody, I'm a senior in high school heading off to college next year and I want to help revitalize Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, too often I see so much negativity from the people who live here and no one wants to be proactive. So instead of complaining I want to study in the field of Urban Planning/Design. I work downtown and I think Cleveland has all the amenities and resources that make a great city but when I look around it just strikes as me as lots of underdeveloped potential and lazy urban layout.
I'm hoping that someday soon I can earn some experience and use it to help transform the urbanity here greatly so I figured I'd ask what kind of ideas Clevelanders had to help improve and shape the urban landscape more so I can implement these ideas into a plan for future development.

For example, for a couple of my thoughts from an urban design perspective (I don't know if this would qualify necessarily as planning/design ideas):

Cultural attractions and amenities>Downtown: The cultural attractions here are top class and I love the University Circle neighborhood but at times it feels like a double-edged sword. I travel often and in many other cities, its museums, orchestra, businesses, restaurants and shopping are usually all located in its general downtown area. I think that kind of concentration of amenities in the city's "front room" is what helps give it urban vibrancy. Even the best upscale shopping in the Cleveland area isn't located in the city itself but in its outer suburbs.
As one of my friends put it "How awesome would it be if Legacy Village and Crocker Park were downtown,and the Art museum and the orchestra were around the block from Playhouse Square, and Parade the Circle and Wade Oval Wednesdays were at the lake on Game Day?" haha.

Lakefront: It's pretty much uderdeveloped. As a city the lakefront is hit or miss. Even with the bluffs and cliffs I think that feature could add to the recreational beauty. Probably the biggest eyesore is the Burke airport and I think it should be converted to commercial/recreational use. With only 15% of the world having freshwater and Erie being the warmest and shallowest Great Lake I think it's an asset we should be taking the highest advantage of as an accessible public amenity.

Cityscape/Skyline: I definitely think the city could use some more buildings to add more density to downtown with a compact appearance. A major part of a city's physical attractiveness is its skyline. I think we should add a good amount of mid-height buildings intermingled with the older buildings and a few more talls/skyscrapers for a nice contrast of old modern architecture. I think more taller buildings and skyscrapers would look fantastic lining Euclid Avenue that would give awesome density/height and a unique skyline to downtown viewed from each angle.
(Adding onto this I know that in order to have more buildings we probably need to bring more companies and businesses here by lowering and getting rid of some taxes and implementing some type of privatization where taxpayers don't have to kill themselves to pay for it. I don't know much about government but I play SimCity and when taxes are high the sims and businesses leave the city and buildings have to be torn down...so yeah )


Again I'm only in high school so a lot of these ideas are really amateur, but that's why I'm going to study this stuff so I can actually know how to pull it off lol. Plus I love cities and everything about them so I think this is a perfect way to put my interests to use.

So are there any other Clevelanders who have ideas on what could be done to improve our urban landscape and help out with some suggestions? After all this city lives off of its people

[5Lakes]

I think you have some good points.

A few other things:

-Encourage pedestrian friendly streetscapes. A lot of commercial streets have been cut up with auto-centric development, which make them less pedestrian friendly. Buildings should be built up to the street.

-Encourage transit oriented development. Many of Cleveland's train stops don't have much in the way of neighborhood development around them. There should be dense apartment blocks around the train stations so they are better utilized.

-Develop the flats as a residential neighborhood. It could be a cool riverfront neighborhood like you see in Europe (look at the canals in Hamburg, Germany for example on google maps streetview).

-Get rid of parking lots and turn them into residential buildings. If you generate enough activity it will in turn get the ball rolling and draw more people. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. dead zones attract nothing.

-more neighborhood parks.

-more bike paths/bike ways

[costello_musicman]

Hey Rio.

1) I applaud your enthusiasm! It's great to see a young person so interested into helping Cleveland and with the urban mindset. I agree with your points almost 100%! (Although I do like University Circle where it is because I live there.. )

2) I track a lot of the Urban Development that happens in Cleveland and it's safe to say this past year or so has seen more development kick off since Jacob's Field, Gund Arena, and the Rock and Roll HOF were built. Downtown is seeing some major cultural amenities go in very soon, including an Aquarium, Casino, and Convention Center. Here's my current list of tracking the over $4 billion of projects that are happening in our city:

CLEVELAND, OH:

***BREAKING GROUND FEB/MAR 2011***
Cleveland Aquarium Phase I (Flats/Downtown) - $33 million Money secured, work to start next week on Flats aquarium | cleveland.com
Museum of Contemporary Art – MOCA (University Circle) -- $32 million MOCA Cleveland board approves building new home in University Circle's Uptown development | cleveland.com
Cleveland Casino Phase I Restoration of Higbee Building (Circa 1931) (Downtown) -- $350 million Casino to open next year in Higbee Building - news-herald.com


Under Construction:
Flats East Bank 21-story building Phase I (Downtown/Flats) -- $270 million http://www.cleveland.com/business/in...ct_closes.html
Flats Cleveland 8-story Aloft Hotel (Downtown/Flats) -- $48 million Cleveland's Flats East Bank hotel will carry the Aloft brand | cleveland.com
Cleveland Convention Center and Medical Mart (Downtown) -- $465 million http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2011/01/medical_mart_construction_starts_downtown.html
Uptown Phase I -- Apartments and Retail (University Circle) -- $44.5 million
Developer MRN Ltd. to break ground Monday on Uptown project in University Circle | cleveland.com
Cleveland Museum of Art Expansion and Renovation (University Circle) -- $258 million Taking a hardhat tour of the Cleveland Museum of Art's expansion project - Cleveland Entertainment Top Story from The Plain Dealer - Cleveland.com
VA Medical Center Expansion (University Circle) -- $526 million
Secretary of veterans affairs extols expansion of Cleveland VA medical center: Crain's Cleveland Business
University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center (University Circle) -- $258 million
http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/i...als_cance.html
University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center (Chagrin Highlands) -- $230 million
University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center
Innerbelt Bridge (Downtown) -- $287 million Clevelanders help ODOT, bridge designers polish details for the new Inner Belt Bridge | cleveland.com
Cleveland Clinic Reference Laboratory (University Circle) -- $75 million Cleveland Clinic breaks ground for $75M reference laboratory « MedCity News
Tudor Arms (Circa 1931) Restoration into Double Tree Hotel (University Circle) -- $22 million Tudor Arms renovation is bringing a highly visible piece of old Cleveland back to life | cleveland.com
Schofield Building (Circa 1902) restoration into Kimpton Hotel and Apts (Downtown) -- $40 million Four Northeast Ohio projects, including new downtown Cleveland hotel, win state tax credits for historic preservation | cleveland.com
East Ohio Gas Company (Circa 1916) restoration into Law Offices (Downtown) -- $30 million Calfee, Halter & Griswold to make former WKYC Building its home: Crain's Cleveland Business
Rivergate Park Rowing Marina (Downtown/Flats) -- $10-$13 million
Creating Rivergate Park: Cleveland Rowing Foundation buys site on Cuyahoga River | cleveland.com
Circle 118 University Circle Townhomes (University Circle) -- $8 million Circle 118 townhouses by WXZ Development add life to University Circle in Cleveland | cleveland.com
27 Coltman Little Italy Townhomes (University Circle) -- $11 million
Luxury townhouses in Cleveland's Little Italy are selling, but court fight looms | cleveland.com
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Elephant Crossing -- $25 million African Elephant Crossing | Opening in Spring 2011
Hanna Broadway Theater Renovations (Circa 1921) (Downtown)-- $20 million
Hanna Theater at Cleveland's Playhouse Square
Allen Broadway Theater Renovations and Expansions (Circa 1921) (Downtown) -- $30 million
Work begins on renovations to Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare | cleveland.com
Tyler Village ongoing renovations (circa 1890-1930)(Asiatown) Tyler Village - History and Future of this Unique Office Space
Battery Park waterfront residental (Detroit-Shoreway/westside) -- $100 million Vintage Development Group, LLC - BATTERY PARK
Perk Park Renovations (Downtown) -- $1.2 million http://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/in...provement.html
Anthony J. Celebrezze 32-story Federal Building Renovations (Downtown) -- $121 million Federal building on East Ninth Street getting $121 million stimulus makeover | Metro - cleveland.com - cleveland.com
Cleveland State University "College Town" (Downtown) -- $14 million so far Cleveland City Planning Commission
Cleveland Insitute of Art Expansion (University Circle) -- $50 million Cleveland Institute of Art will break ground in May on Uptown expansion | cleveland.com
Pierre's Ice Cream Factory Expansion (Midtown) -- $8 million Pierre's Ice Cream starts factory expansion this week | cleveland.com
American Sugar Factory Expansion (Midtown) -- $8 million American Sugar expansion plan would nearly double Cleveland plant's size | cleveland.com
Cleveland State University Euclid Commons Dorms Phase II (Downtown) -- $65 million (total for both phases) http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us...tail.php?ID=29
1030 Euclid Ave, Truman Building renovations into residental (Downtown) Investors plan Schofield building rehab; $52M downtown project, which includes offices and a hotel, hinges on securing historic tax credits | North America > United States from AllBusiness.com (http://www.allbusiness.com/real-estate/commercial-residential-property/12867378-1.html - broken link)
629 Euclid Ave renovations for Rosetta (Downtown) -- $5 million Digital agency Rosetta plans to bring nearly 400 jobs to new downtown Cleveland offices | cleveland.com
6700 Euclid Ave, Midtown Tech Park construction (Midtown) -- $21 million Properties For Sale - Investment Property, 6700 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH
7515 Euclid Ave, Emerald Alliance V construction (Midtown) -- $25 million CHN News - CHN Wins State Funding for 3 Affordable Housing Projects
E. 55th Rapid train Station (Midtown) -- $10 million E 55 Rapid Station | Major Projects | Planning & Development | Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
Brookpark Rd Rapid train Station (near Airport) -- $1.2 million
Stimulus money will help redesign the Brookpark Road RTA rapid station | cleveland.com
Hawken High School renovations and extension campus (University Circle) -- $6.6 million Hawken School to open new learning center in University Circle | cleveland.com
E.14th/Playhouse Square streetscape renovations (Downtown) -- $3 million http://www.playhousesquare.org/defau...etail&objId=62
Cleveland Bicycle Station (Downtown) -- $1 million Art will brighten Cleveland's bike station | GreenCityBlueLake


Planning Stages:
Cleveland Casino Phase II Construction (Downtown/Flats) -- $600 million Dan Gilbert, Forest City reach deal on land for Cleveland casino | cleveland.com
University Circle Hotel (University Circle) -- $27 million http://www.cleveland.com/business/in...el_will_b.html
Great Lakes Brewery Expansion (Ohio City) -- $6 million Growth on tap at Great Lakes Brewing Co. - Cleveland Business News - Northeast Ohio and Cleveland - Crain's Cleveland Business
Miceli Dairy Products Expansion (Buckeye Rd/Midtown) -- $20 million
Miceli Dairy Products describes plan for expansion in Cleveland | cleveland.com
1010 Euclid Ave, Security Federal Building into offices (Downtown)
Investors plan Schofield building rehab; $52M downtown project, which includes offices and a hotel, hinges on securing historic tax credits | North America > United States from AllBusiness.com (http://www.allbusiness.com/real-estate/commercial-residential-property/12867378-1.html - broken link)
Cleveland State University Mixed-Use North Campus Apartments (Downtown) -- $50 million http://www.cleveland.com/business/in...ghborhood.html
Ohio City neighborhood improvements -- $1-3 million
Third District Police Station (Midtown) -- $14.5 million Cleveland, developer work out unusual financing for Third District police station project | cleveland.com
University Circle new Rapid train Station (University Circle) -- $10.5 million
University Circle rapid station redesign in the works | cleveland.com
Temple-Tifereth Israel Renovations into CWRU Performing Arts Center (University Circle)-- $25.6 million Maltz Family Foundation donates $12 million to CWRU to let school, synagogue share Temple-Tifereth Israel | cleveland.com
Uptown/MOCA Plaza (University Circle) -- $1 million Uptown plaza design wins conceptual approval from Euclid Corridor Design Review Committee | cleveland.com
Abington Arms Apartments "Green Retrofit" (University Circle)-- $2.6 million HUDNo.2010-10-05/U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Cozad-Bates “Underground Railroad” House Restoration (circa 1853) (University Circle) -- $350K http://universitycircle.org/annual2010/2010-UCI-AR.pdf (broken link)
Hazel Drive Luxury Apartments (University Circle) -- $10.5 million http://www.cleveland.com/business/in...anned_for.html (broken link)
Lake Erie Underground half-mile Tunnel -- $198 million http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011...eland_tun.html

Recently Completed:
Cleveland Clinic Heart Center (University Circle) -- $500 million COMPLETED 2008
Euclid Corridor Bus-Rapid Transit Line connecting Downtown to University Circle -- $197 million COMPLETED 2008 Cleveland's Euclid corridor project has paved the way to economic development | cleveland.com
Avenue District 10-story condo building (Downtown) -- $150 million COMPLETED 2009
668 Euclid Apartment Renovations (circa 1913) (Downtown) -- $70 million -- COMPLETED 2010
668 Euclid Revitalizes Central Downtown Business District
Terminal Tower Renovations (Circa 1931) (Downtown) -- $40 million COMPLETED 2009 From the top: Progress visible on Terminal Tower restoration | cleveland.com
Cleveland State University Euclid Commons Dorms Phase I (Downtown) -- $65 million (total for both phases) -- COMPLETED 2010 http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us...tail.php?ID=29
Cleveland State University Student Center (Downtown) -- $44 million -- COMPLETED 2010 Cleveland State University's new student center provides a place to meet, eat and greet | cleveland.com
Cleveland State University Education Building -- $36 million -- COMPLETED 2010 College of Education & Human Services Building - Cleveland State University
Stonebridge Plaza 12-Story Condo Tower (Downtown/Flats) -- COMPLETED 2008
Park Lane Villa Apartments Renovations (circa 1920) (University Circle) -- $21 million COMPLETED 2008
Tremont Place Lofts Renovations (circa 1930s) (Tremont near Downtown) -- $15 million COMPLETED 2009
Asiatown Center creation and renovation (circa 1922) (Asiatown) COMPLETED 2010 -- $2-3 million Asian Town Center | Cleveland, Ohio | Home
Case Western Reserve Wind Turbine (University Circle) -- $6 million COMPLETED 2010 CWRU plans to harness wind power with turbines - News (http://media.www.cwruobserver.com/media/storage/paper1370/news/2010/09/17/News/Cwru-Plans.To.Harness.Wind.Power.With.Turbines-3932380.shtml - broken link)
Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transportation Center (Downtown) -- $9.6 million COMPLETED 2010 Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center | Major Projects | Planning & Development | Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
John Hay High School (circa 1929) restorations (University Circle) -- $37 million COMPLETED 2007 John Hay Campus schools live up to expectations, get excellent' rating from state - Cleveland.com
Montessori High School renovations and creation (University Circle) -- $2.6 million COMPLETED 2008 New high school in University Circle combines Montessori education with the International Baccalaureate program | cleveland.com
Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center (University Circle) -- $16 million COMPLETED 2009 http://blog.cleveland.com/architectu..._designed.html
Cleveland Hopkins Airport AIRMALL -- $8.4 million COMPLETED 2010 http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010...and_hopki.html
Tri-C Center for Creative Arts (Downtown) -- $27 million COMPLETED 2010 Tri-C's Center for Creative Arts among seven facilities planned by the college | cleveland.com
Park Building renovations (circa 1904) into Condos (Downtown) -- $9 million COMPELTED 2009 http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2...put_homeo.html
Soldiers and Sailors Monument restoration (circa 1894) (Downtown) -- $2 million COMPLETED 2010 http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010..._monument.html
Captial Theater Renovation (Gordon Square) -- $7 million COMPLETED 2009 http://www.cleveland.com/moviebuff/i...l_theatre.html
Gordon Square renovation projects -- $30 million COMPLETED 2010 http://www.marketwire.com/press-rele...nt-1167247.htm


Proposed:
21-Story Public Square Tower (Jacob's and Hines) -- $180 million http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2...d_21story.html (broken link)
Cleveland Aquarium Phase II (Downtown/Flats) -- $40 million Money secured, work to start next week on Flats aquarium | cleveland.com
5-Story Technology Center (University Circle) -- $98.6 million Developer John Ferchill plans University Circle tech center: Crain's Cleveland Business
Cleveland Skatepark (Downtown/Flats) -- $500K A new Cleveland Skatepark? - ESPN
Case Western Reserve Field House (University Circle) -- $6 million Case Western Reserve University | News Center
Case Western Reserve Student Center (University Circle) -- $50 million $20 million gift to Case Western Reserve University will kick-start plans for new student center | cleveland.com
Wind Turbines on Lake Erie -- $100 million
Developers named to build Lake Erie wind turbines - BusinessWeek
North Coast Transportation Center (Downtown) -- $50 million Cleveland plans intermodal transportation center to link key landmarks | cleveland.com
Cleveland Athletic Club renovations (circa 1910) -- $43 million Cleveland Athletic Club building owner settles legal dispute, but renovation plans still need financing | cleveland.com
Warner and Swasey Building renovation (circa 1880)(Midtown) Cleveland's abandoned Warner & Swasey complex could become a tech center | cleveland.com
Maingate Market Place (E. 55th and Woodland) -- $30 million Maingate Market Place plan could bring renewal to East 55th Street and Woodland Avenue | cleveland.com
Abandoned Coast Guard Station Restoration (Downtown/Whiskey Island) -- $5 million-$9.2 million Old Coast Guard station languishes; Some cleanup, repairs done, but progress scant on plans for new use | Metro - cleveland.com - cleveland.com
Slavic Village Velodrome (Slavic Village) -- $6.5 million Group moves closer to creating cycling velodrome in Cleveland's Slavic Village - Cleveland Business News - Northeast Ohio and Cleveland - Crain's Cleveland Business
Cleveland School of the Arts -- $30 million Cleveland school district to build new John Marshall High School | cleveland.com
Cleveland Natural History Museum Expansion (University Circle) -- $30-50 million Evalyn Gates takes helm at Cleveland Museum of Natural History as expansion plans gel | cleveland.com
Lot 45 (University Circle) -- $60 million University Circle Inc. unveils plans for Lot 45, a key element of the Uptown development | cleveland.com
Uptown Phase II (Ford and Euclid) (University Circle)
Uptown Hotel TBA (University Circle)
Cleveland State University Global Sustainable Center
Cleveland State University Mather Mansion Boutique Hotel
Cleveland State University 1836 Euclid Building
Cleveland State University Cowell & Hubbard Building and Dodge Building Renovations
E.119th three-story Office Building (University Circle) Developers settle dispute over land in Cleveland's Little Italy | cleveland.com
Case Western Reserve West Quad -- $50 million Case Western Reserve Scales Back West Quad Project / WCPN.org
Opportunity Corridor (eastside/University Circle) -- $300 million
Cleveland Urban Core Projects - Opportunity Corridor
Flats East Bank Phase II
Flats East Bank Residental http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20110207/SUB1/302079984 (broken link)
Pedestrian Bridges (Downtown/University Circle) http://blog.cleveland.com/architectu...el_rosale.html (broken link)

[costello_musicman]

3) If you haven't found this website already, I would highly recommend checking it out. It's called urbanohio.com, and the forum talks a lot about urban planning, urban architecture, and new projects: www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php

[costello_musicman]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

I think you have some good points.

A few other things:

-Encourage pedestrian friendly streetscapes. A lot of commercial streets have been cut up with auto-centric development, which make them less pedestrian friendly. Buildings should be built up to the street.

-Encourage transit oriented development. Many of Cleveland's train stops don't have much in the way of neighborhood development around them. There should be dense apartment blocks around the train stations so they are better utilized.

-Develop the flats as a residential neighborhood. It could be a cool riverfront neighborhood like you see in Europe (look at the canals in Hamburg, Germany for example on google maps streetview).

-Get rid of parking lots and turn them into residential buildings. If you generate enough activity it will in turn get the ball rolling and draw more people. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. dead zones attract nothing.

-more neighborhood parks.

-more bike paths/bike ways

5Lakes, I wish I could give you more rep points!

[RioDominicana]

Thanks Costello for the site, I didn't know about urbanohio.

Thanks for the suggestion about the Flats, I feel dumb I didn't give much attention to them lol. The Flats seemed to traditionally attract younger crowds and I think it should keep catering to the younger crowds like students and yuppies, maybe a couple of residential high rises should go up down there, lay out a boardwalk along the riverbank and put some coffee shops and cafes on it, a dance yoga studio, a live music venue and things like that.


And I couldn't agree more about more development around more of the train stops. Some of the stops next to the freeways (E 55th, E 30th) might be more challenging to build extensive development around though but the W.25th stop is one of the stops I think more development should go up around.

[lisa12230]

Originally Posted by RioDominicana

Hey everybody, I'm a senior in high school heading off to college next year and I want to help revitalize Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, too often I see so much negativity from the people who live here and no one wants to be proactive. So instead of complaining I want to study in the field of Urban Planning/Design. I work downtown and I think Cleveland has all the amenities and resources that make a great city but when I look around it just strikes as me as lots of underdeveloped potential and lazy urban layout.
I'm hoping that someday soon I can earn some experience and use it to help transform the urbanity here greatly so I figured I'd ask what kind of ideas Clevelanders had to help improve and shape the urban landscape more so I can implement these ideas into a plan for future development.

For example, for a couple of my thoughts from an urban design perspective (I don't know if this would qualify necessarily as planning/design ideas):

Cultural attractions and amenities>Downtown: The cultural attractions here are top class and I love the University Circle neighborhood but at times it feels like a double-edged sword. I travel often and in many other cities, its museums, orchestra, businesses, restaurants and shopping are usually all located in its general downtown area. I think that kind of concentration of amenities in the city's "front room" is what helps give it urban vibrancy. Even the best upscale shopping in the Cleveland area isn't located in the city itself but in its outer suburbs.
As one of my friends put it "How awesome would it be if Legacy Village and Crocker Park were downtown,and the Art museum and the orchestra were around the block from Playhouse Square, and Parade the Circle and Wade Oval Wednesdays were at the lake on Game Day?" haha.

Lakefront: It's pretty much uderdeveloped. As a city the lakefront is hit or miss. Even with the bluffs and cliffs I think that feature could add to the recreational beauty. Probably the biggest eyesore is the Burke airport and I think it should be converted to commercial/recreational use. With only 15% of the world having freshwater and Erie being the warmest and shallowest Great Lake I think it's an asset we should be taking the highest advantage of as an accessible public amenity.

Cityscape/Skyline: I definitely think the city could use some more buildings to add more density to downtown with a compact appearance. A major part of a city's physical attractiveness is its skyline. I think we should add a good amount of mid-height buildings intermingled with the older buildings and a few more talls/skyscrapers for a nice contrast of old modern architecture. I think more taller buildings and skyscrapers would look fantastic lining Euclid Avenue that would give awesome density/height and a unique skyline to downtown viewed from each angle.
(Adding onto this I know that in order to have more buildings we probably need to bring more companies and businesses here by lowering and getting rid of some taxes and implementing some type of privatization where taxpayers don't have to kill themselves to pay for it. I don't know much about government but I play SimCity and when taxes are high the sims and businesses leave the city and buildings have to be torn down...so yeah )



Again I'm only in high school so a lot of these ideas are really amateur, but that's why I'm going to study this stuff so I can actually know how to pull it off lol. Plus I love cities and everything about them so I think this is a perfect way to put my interests to use.

So are there any other Clevelanders who have ideas on what could be done to improve our urban landscape and help out with some suggestions? After all this city lives off of its people

Bless your heart for wanting more development in the city.....I hope I can be of whatever help there is....I will be in cleveland,(God willing) in May....Its good to see young people with a heart for the city of cleveland

[Na zdrowie]

Rio,

It's great to see someone in high school thinking about these kinds of things and no your ideas are not amateur. You're on the right track with your connection to the economy also. Keep in mind that for good development to occur, you need not only good design but good (or at least flexible) government policy (especially at the local level), encouraging both the planning as well as the development, so this is not only a design issue but an economic and political one. A couple comments on your points:

An advantage of the distance between Downtown and University Circle is the potential for all of the development underway to impact a much larger area of the city (including some of the more depressed neighborhoods) than if everything was clustered. Keep an eye on the changes you see along the Euclid corridor between the two and imagine how that would be playing out differently if UC was adjacent to Downtown. Alot of retail has left Downtown like in many cities, but the potential to draw some back is there as the population there continues to rise.

I agree with your point on the lake. There is talk about consolidation of all of the publicly owned land (currently a mix of city, county, state, and port authority) under Metroparks management, which I think would be a great move, not only for more efficient operation but to connect the pieces together. The other big issue (besides the airport debate) is that freeways on both sides block access between the neighborhoods and the public spaces that do exist. There are plans for the West Shoreway to be converted to a boulevard with intersections at major north-south streets, but I-90 on the east side is a different situation being a federal interstate highway. One solution would be to cap the interstate with a linear landscaped public space that connects to the lake and to points east and west.

Downtown has a great compact layout. The big holes are the parking lots between Public Square and the Warehouse District. There was a developer pre-recession prosposing to fill these in with a mixed-used development similar in scale to the Warehouse District, basically completing the connection between the two areas. The vacant lot on the northwest corner of Public Square is a high profile location and would be the best location for a new high rise. As you point out, the economy and rate of development Downtown will determine how soon this can happen. As far as urban design goes, one challenge will be to make sure that the public spaces like Public Square and the Mall interact with and complement this evolving built environment. This could be a total remake or just small details, as the small details sometimes can be the difference between an active space and a dead zone. The city has been driving a review of both of these spaces in light of all the pending development, so this is not being overlooked.

[Na zdrowie]

Originally Posted by RioDominicana

Thanks Costello for the site, I didn't know about urbanohio.

Thanks for the suggestion about the Flats, I feel dumb I didn't give much attention to them lol. The Flats seemed to traditionally attract younger crowds and I think it should keep catering to the younger crowds like students and yuppies, maybe a couple of residential high rises should go up down there, lay out a boardwalk along the riverbank and put some coffee shops and cafes on it, a dance yoga studio, a live music venue and things like that.


And I couldn't agree more about more development around more of the train stops. Some of the stops next to the freeways (E 55th, E 30th) might be more challenging to build extensive development around though but the W.25th stop is one of the stops I think more development should go up around.

The new development on the east bank will be mixed-use including park space, so much more sustainable than a strip of bars, not that I don't like bars. Hopefully it'll attract all types of people.

RTA has included transit-oriented development as one of their goals moving forward. Hopefully they along with the city will incentivize denser development around the rapid stops. I think most of them, especially on the near east and west sides have potential to be enhanced, if not residentially then possibly for industrial/commerical.

The E.55 stop for example is interesting. It's actually being rebuilt on the south side of 490 next to the St. Hyacinth neighborhood. North of 490 is Maingate with its food distribution businesses. There's a proposed market district development idea for the E.55 and Woodland intersection to the north and several urban farming/greenhouse projects underway in that area as well. Also upcoming will be the Opportunity Corridor ODOT project connecting 490 with University Circle. Lots of potential at that stop!

[UKUKUK]

OP, as an urban planning graduate, I can offer you tips on things you should focus on in your classes:
TAKE GIS CLASSES. IF you can use ArcGIS/Trimble/all of that mess, you can get a job EASILY. I had 3 offers upon graduation with my bachelors' and now do independent work as I am planning a move to the Cleveland area.
Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer. Show you are a civic minded individual and companies will love that.
Join the Geography club/honor society at whatever university you study at.
Most importantly, take classes in ethics and pay close attention to them. Also develop your writing skills to the best of your ability.

Have fun! It's a blast to work in the field.