January 21st Public Forum
Location: 1717 Euclid Ave, CSU's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs Atrium
Time: 5:30 - 7:30pm
Who: James Corner, noted urban designer and landscape architect, with James Corner Field Operations and the Kent State Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative presented 3 design strategies for Public Square. Over 140 participants attended the forum, asked questions, shared their ideas and discussed ways to make Public Square a more vital center and gathering place for Cleveland's Downtown.
Background on the effort to redesign Public Square
There have been various public forums on Public Square over the past 10 years. One, convened in October of 2002, was led by ParkWorks, the City of Cleveland and the Project for Public Spaces. This dialogue asked attendees to list what worked and what didn’t about Public Square, and what might connect the Square to the surrounding City. Similar efforts to address issues with the Square have been undertaken with Leadership Cleveland (a special project focus in 2003) and with the students at Case Western Reserve University. Most conversations of the past have focused only on potential and have not been based on concrete design processes centered on realistic project assumptions and objectives. In 2008 ParkWorks and Downtown Cleveland Alliance began the first ever comprehensive redesign process for Public Square.
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Redesigning the heart of Downtown
Public Square is Cleveland’s most prominent public space and the heart of our Downtown. For all of its history and physical relevance, however, Public Square in its current configuration does not function well. It does not serve the broader city and is devoid of the vitality and connectivity that a thriving public space should create. As designed now, Public Square is exceedingly unfriendly to both pedestrians and motorists hoping to navigate through the center of Downtown. Further, it is a difficult space to program. Special events are lost in the Square unless they are of a grand scale and budget.
In 2008,
ParkWorks and Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA) began the first ever comprehensive redesign process for Public Square by engaging Wilbur Smith Associates to conduct a comprehensive traffic study for Public Square. This team felt that, with all that was known about the Square, there were unanswered questions about the practicality and feasibility of designing with and around two of Cleveland’s busiest streets and public transportation arteries. Beyond the constraints of these streets, there is flexibility to explore a design that meets these requirements but fully explores creative means to realign the space much more effectively.
A request for qualifications was distributed in May 2009 in an effort to identify a design team to address the scale, accessibility, connectivity and feel of Public Square. The RFQ was distributed through local and national outlets. From this process, a stakeholder group consisting of members of the DCA Public Square Task Force selected a design team which included New York based
James Corner Field Operations and the
Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative.
After initial feedback and ongoing study, the design team created a set of preliminary, early-stage drawings. The purpose of these early-stage renderings is to inspire the conversation about what Cleveland’s Public Square should become and what role it should play in the future growth of our City. These initial concepts are the product of a careful and thoughtful process and the designs are calibrated to respond to the needs and desires of the users of Public Square.
“Make no little plans;
they have no magic
to stir men's blood
...Make big plans,
aim high in hope and work.”
~ Daniel Burnham
Burnham was the lead planner behind the creation of Cleveland’s 1903 Group Plan, which gave Cleveland its grand civic buildings and malls.
Over the next several months as this design process continues, these concepts will evolve to reflect input from the greater community. Sign up to recieve updates from DCA on the progress of this exciting project.