Planning and Partnerships for the Renewal of Urban Neighborhoods

By Stephen A. Sterrett,

Urban universities are a key resource for municipal government, businesses, community organizations, and citizens to foster partnerships for successful renewal of distressed urban neighborhoods. From its experience over the past decade, the Ohio State University has created a successful model for engagement with its neighborhoods and the City of Columbus. This model is grounded in market-based revitalization and includes community-based planning, a shared vision for renewal, multiple sources of funding, and a focus on long-term results. In turn, this engagement has invigorated the university’s mission as a land-grant institution in the twenty-first century.

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More about regeneration and revitalization plans:

Measuring Socially Sustainable Urban Regeneration in Europe 

Measuring neighborhood distress: a tool for place-based urban revitalization strategies

Culture and Urban Revitalization: A Harvest Document

Detroit’s Renewal from a Funder’s Perspective

Manhattan’s Master Plan: Why NYC Looks the Way it Does

Hopeful Footsteps in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico

Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, by Zaha Hadid

via Galinsky

Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center is the first built project in the United States by celebrated London-based architect Zaha Hadid. More than another example of the "Bilbao Effect" - the "build it and they will come" attitude that so many cities have taken on after the success of Gehry's building in Bilbao - the CAC is simply the latest building in a long line of projects that the city of Cincinnati has taken on over the last ten years, including works by Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry and Michael Graves.

Unlike other recent works to receive such press in Cincinnati, the CAC is the first major project to go up in the city's somewhat declining downtown. In response to the metropolitan setting of the building, Hadid developed the concept of the "urban carpet", to draw in pedestrian traffic inherent to a downtown area. The "urban carpet" is articulated by a seamless run of concrete that begins outside the building, continues into the mezzanine level and eventually curves upward at the far end of the building behind the stairs. Though in theory this concept seems admirable it's not very visible. In fact, if it were not for fact that the concept was highly publicized in the Cincinnati area during the design process, it would be missed by many if not all visitors. 

The building came with a $27.5 million tag, something that is apparent when one notices that every room, gallery and passageway in the building has a name attached to it.

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Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center, photo by mark.hogan

Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center, photo by mark.hogan

Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center, photo by mark.hogan

Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center, photo by mark.hogan

Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center, photo by mark.hogan

Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center, photo by mark.hogan

 more about architecture:

The Heights: The Anatomy of a Skyscraper

Book - Architecture and Violence

The Professional Practice Of Landscape Architecture: A Complete Guide To Starting And Running Your Own Firm

Life-size Monopoly House: The Art Of Green Architecture

Globalization, building technology and architecture

Léon Krier discusses The Architecture of Community

History of Urban Planning and Design of Hudson, Ohio

by M.A. Hoque

 Hudson, Ohio, a suburb of Akron and Cleveland is considered as rich-people area, with the median home value of $250,000 way above Ohio's average. This rich-people area with calm and quite environment, full of greenery still reminds, even in today's motorist and busy life, that it was once built as an "altar to God in Wilderness". The city was a part of area named the Connecticut Western Reserve. Today's northeast Ohio was a section of the old frontier of the United States, which was settled by people from Connecticut. Preservation of the old heritage and architecture is the high priority and formalized. All the new developments maintains the standards recommended by the City and the Historical Society to keep the city proud of its old heritage, to give a feelings of pedestrian neighborhood and to keep it economically sustainable as well for the next generations.

The dream of founding an "altar to God in Wilderness" led David Hudson of Goshen, Connecticut and a group of settlers to this township in 1799. The land was purchased from the Connecticut Land Company. In 1802, Mr. Hudson founded a Congregational Church in town and then Western Reserve College, referred to as "the Yale of the West" in 1826. That is the beginning of Hudson, and since then it has been gone through raises and falls like any other city in the world.
Hudson blossomed during the 1840s with intellectual fervor and railroad fever. In the last half of the century a series of hard times - the failure of railroad investments, the 1882 departure of the college to Cleveland, and terrible fire on Main Street in 1892 - sent the town into economic decline.
David Hudson is called the father of Hudson while James W. Ellsworth gave the rebirth of the city in early 1900s. Millionaire landowner and railroad pioneer J. W. Ellsworth revitalized Hudson after a mild depression hit the Western Reserve. Returning to his hometown in 1907, he planned a model community with electric, water, and wastewater plants, paved streets lined with elm trees, and underground utility lines. He also restored the derelict College buildings, reopening them as Western Reserve Academy.

Hudson's development slowed down during the Depression and Hudson remained a small village and rural township until construction of the Ohio Turnpike in the 1950s that made it more accessible. 

 

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Hudson,Ohio, photo by Wayne Senville

 more posts about the history of urban planning:

The City Beautiful Movement by William H. Wilson

HISTORY OF CITY PLANNING – PARIS (1850-1920)

Anglo-American town planning theory since 1945: three significant developments but no paradigm shifts

Geography—Urban Planning Major (B.S)- Ohio University

This special curriculum is designed to provide some of the basic academic requirements for a career in urban planning in the United States. While working toward a conventional B.S. in geography, you will take certain required courses and select from an approved list of electives (both inside and outside the Department of Geography) that emphasize legal, social, political, and historical aspects of the planning profession. These courses simultaneously fulfill some of the Department and College requirements. The distinctiveness of the curriculum comes from the direction you are given and the preselection of courses in which you may enroll; these elements separate the special curriculum from the general geography program. To enroll in the preparation for urban and regional planning major, contact the chair of the Department of Geography as soon as possible, preferably not later than the beginning of your sophomore year.

The majority of job opportunities for planners are with government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels. Their activities largely concern administration and implementation of federal programs, and continued funding depends upon Congress. While a bachelor’s degree can provide initial entry into the profession, job descriptions usually specify a master’s degree. It is recommended that you continue toward such a degree, which involves an additional two years of study and is offered by more than 70 American universities.

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Ohio University President Vernon Alden with Campus Plan, 1963, by Ohio University Libraries

more urban planning degrees:

Master in Urban Planning (MUP) in Harvard University

The 10 Best Graduate Programs In Urban And Regional Planning

Urban and Regional Planning Programs, Courses, Schools and Degrees in Ontario Universities

Top 20 Urban Planning Successes of All Time

Via Public Servant Blog

Planning a great yet functional urban area takes innovation as well as knowledge. The following top 20 urban planning successes of all time range from the Taos Pueblo to the current functionality presented by Camden Town, London. In between, you’ll discover plenty of examples of urban planning that stood the test of time or that successfully remedied the ravages of time.

Granville Island, Vancouver, source: Google Maps

1. Amsterdam, Netherlands: The capital and largest city in the Netherlands, Amsterdam has flourished from the 14th century. In the early 17th century, a comprehensive plan was developed that was based on four concentric half-circles of canals with their ends emerging at the IJ bay. Today, with little expansion, only 20 percent of trips around the city are in a car. Amsterdam is one of the most bicycle-friendly large cities in the world.
2. Billerica Garden Suburb, Massachusetts: Incorporated in 1914, Billerica offered the country’s first garden suburb designed specifically for workers. Modeled after Ebenezer Howard’s English garden city designs, Billerica combined a limited dividend corporation with co-partnership. Workers would own their homes by purchasing shares. The result was the construction of 70 new homes between 1914 and 1917.
3. Granville Island, Vancouver:    Read more