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Urban Design Workshop: Cleveland MidTown

Contributors

  • Christopher Chutz (M.R.P. '21)
  • Samuel Coons (M.R.P./M.L.A. '21)
  • Anthea Fernandes (M.R.P. '21)
  • Kate Flaherty (M.R.P./M.L.A. '22)
  • Alexander Goddard (B.A. '21)
  • Xinyu He (M.R.P. '21)
  • Hailey Morey (M.R.P. '20)
  • Michael O'Key (M.R.P. '21)
  • Rewa Phansalkar (M.R.P. '21)
  • Hassan Saleem (B.S. URS '20)
  • Gianni Valentia (B.S. URS '21)
  • Hannah Wilson (M.R.P. '21)
  • Xiaotong Yang (M.R.P. '21)

Class

CRP 5850 Urban Design Workshop

Instructors

MidTown Cleveland is a historic working-class residential community and commercial/light industrial corridor located between Downtown Cleveland and University Circle (thus the name “MidTown”). In the past decade-plus, extraordinary economic development progress has been made to either side of MidTown: Downtown has seen a rebirth as an active, 24-hour live/work/entertainment district with new restaurants, revitalized nightlife, and refurbished public square, while University Circle is thriving as an Eds/Meds center with Case Western Reserve and Cleveland Clinic Hospital, complemented by a host of world-class arts and cultural institutions. These two “bookends” have been linked along Euclid Avenue by the implementation of a highly successful bus-rapid-transit system known as the “HealthLine” – completed by the Cleveland Regional Transit Authority in 2008, the system has generated close to 10 billion dollars of economic development along its length.

Although the HealthLine has been running through the center of MidTown on Euclid Avenue for over 10 years, only now are some of its benefits being strongly felt in MidTown. Long planned and recent initiatives by residents, neighborhood CDCs, non-profits, foundations, the city and state are beginning to have a transformative effect. This includes the planning and design of the new headquarters for the Cleveland Foundation, the preeminent philanthropic organization in the city and a supporter of CRP work. At the same time, MidTown Cleveland Inc. has released an RFP to create a neighborhood vision plan for MidTown. The work in CRP5850 will be complementary to the work by the selected consultant team.

“The MidTown neighborhood is now at a critical juncture with several catalytic development projects that will spur the acceleration of real estate development and economic growth in the neighborhood and advance MidTown’s strategic priorities. What happens in MidTown over the next decade will directly impact the tens of thousands of residents in neighborhoods north, south, east, and west of MidTown. As disparities continue to widen nationally and across Cleveland, we must act with urgency to ensure that this development, our planning efforts, and the others that follow will reduce disparity and advance racial equity.”
—MidTown Cleveland Inc., Neighborhood Vision Plan RFP, January 2020
The CRP 5850 urban design class took place within this evolving MidTown context in Spring 2020 just as the Covid pandemic was beginning. The class focused on urban design scenarios (development, public space, and street improvement proposals) for a particular part of MidTown: along the existing Penn Railroad freight rail line. Previously a commuter line (with a now-demolished station at Euclid and 55th), the rail is both a barrier to neighborhood cohesiveness and an opportunity to re-imagine improved connectivity of people and place. The resulting work imagined and proposed new urban forms, uses, and activities to improve quality of life now and in the future in MidTown.

Rendering of a neighborhood map with tree lined streets and a proposed market in the center.
Team site plan for critical area of MidTown between the Penn Rail line and Hough neighborhood.
Infographic with a city park on one side with text and a map rendering on the other side.
Page from the MidTown Cleveland report that frames the project goals and objectives.
Academic poster with text on the top and the bottom half has renderings of train stations with people exploring the surrounding area.
Broad findings of the study and student collage to provide sense of MidTown Cleveland.
Academic poster with text on the left side and a photo of a presentation with a rectangular table of audience members and one person at the front of the room showing a map on a screen.
Page from the MidTown Cleveland report explaining the workshop process and meetings.
Two set of photo collages showing different aspects of a train station and surrounding city and green space areas.
Page from the MidTown Cleveland report expressing a visual survey of MidTown.
Hand drawn map proposing a new urban design with a market and housing, with three images on the side that show current buildings in the area.
Student urban design sketches exploring potential opportunities and challenges for MidTown.
Two image renderings of a large street with green space on either side.
Sectional diagram indicating potential for a range of new and innovative public space ideas.
Six images of green space renderings and ideas that each point to an area on a map.
Sectional diagram indicating potential for a range of new and innovative public space ideas.
Rendering of a city street with passersby exploring the street. There are trees and a crosswalk added to the design in an overlay.
Team ground-level perspective showing spatial experience of urban design proposal.

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  • Map rendering of a park with a creek running through it, outlined by four roads.
  • Artistic rendering of map with black circle centered on the map.
  • Architectural model with a blocky facade on a black background.
  • A person stands with their back to the viewer, and wings are superimposed on their back.
  • Painting of two people sitting on a red blanket.
  • a wall from within a dark room
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