Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2024, Geography

This research conducts an analysis of urban change in Toledo, Ohio. While not explicitly stated in planning, “rightsizing” strategies that are emerging in legacy cities across America's Rust Belt as a response to decline are being implemented in Toledo. Targeted investments, particularly in the form of downtown revitalization, and targeted demolition alike are rightsizing strategies being implemented in Toledo. These strategies are being carried out through various forms of intergovernmental collaboration and public-private partnerships. They are being justified in the name of urban beautification, neighborhood revitalization, productivity, and public safety.

Committee: Yeong Kim (Advisor) Subjects: Geography; Political Science; Urban Planning

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2016, Geography

Over time, urban sprawl has caused many downtowns across the United States to lose businesses, residents, and attractions. Urban planners and designers are tasked with creating plans and policies that will help to revitalize downtowns, which have been negatively impacted by urban sprawl. The purpose of this research is to give insight and suggest recommendations on key components and concepts that are used, or can be used to help revitalize downtowns, which will contribute to restoring their prominence in urban areas. The question that arises is: what can us as regulators, producers, and users do to help promote a healthier downtown? This analysis uses interviews with planning professionals, residents, and stakeholders to identify deficiencies in previous master plans and planning efforts. Reviews of case studies show trends and best practices that could be applied to revitalization. By analyzing these findings, we can create hypotheses that will aid in combating the loss of commercial and residential entities in downtown Toledo. Planners and policy makers believe that the City of Toledo is in a position for the downtown to once again be the focal point for the region and regain some of the residents and commerce lost to the surrounding areas. This can be accomplished by utilizing proper planning practices that restore the public's interest in the downtown. The conclusion will indicate recommendations that can be used for future master plans for the downtown, which will hopefully aid in creating a sustainable downtown.

Committee: Sujata Shetty Dr. (Committee Chair); Daniel J. Hammel Dr. (Committee Member); David J. Nemeth Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography; Land Use Planning; Urban Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2001, Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning : Community Planning

Telecommunications infrastructure has largely been ignored by city officials as it lies invisible as part of the city. Recent phenomena have demonstrated that by devising telecommunications infrastructure as a part of the tools to revitalize downtown, a city could develop several layers to attract people and businesses to return. The purpose of this study is to: identify the problem and magnitude of downtown revitalization, identify the trends and forces affecting the relationships between telecommunications infrastructure and the city, formulate effective strategies based on the trends and forces to revitalize downtown and develop guidelines for the implementation of these strategies in the case of Gary, Indiana.

Committee: David J. Edelman (Advisor) Subjects: Urban and Regional Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2004, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

Bellevue, Kentucky is a small city with an historic commercial district at its heart. Recent developments are changing the face of the largely historic city and creating challenges for government, residents, and businesses. The historic preservation program was created in 1985 to stabilize downtown and stimulate reinvestment; Bellevue now needs to renew its commitment to Fairfield Avenue's revitalization. This thesis creates a preservation plan for the Fairfield Avenue Historic District to protect Bellevue's physical and cultural heritage along its most visible and traveled corridor. The plan is a comprehensive effort to strengthen the preservation program and integrate it with economic development, through study of physical and socioeconomic characteristics, community leader interviews, analysis of existing policies, review of Fairfield Avenue's history and a survey of individual structures to determine historic context. Findings are used to create recommendations which can be implemented by the city and integrated into the larger planning process.

Committee: Menelaos Triantafillou (Advisor) Subjects: Urban and Regional Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2004, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

One of the responsibilities of any public sector authority is to explore and implement policies that stimulate economic development within city boundaries. Communities throughout the United States are continuously exploring new ways to encourage economic growth within city limits and often look to the success of other communities as a means to guide them in their quest for economic success. One option that has found resurgence and proven to be economically viable for various communities of all sizes is that of downtown redevelopment/revitalization. But what makes for successful economic development in downtown urban areas and what role do public sector policies play in directing successful resurgence of a community's downtown? This thesis first seeks to answer the question, “What are successful economic development policies that (1) go beyond the public sector's traditional approach to economic development and (2) take into account the major shifts impacting how business is conducted in today's economy?” The second part of this thesis is an application of the first question to a case study community as a means to determine the potential success or failure of the community's economic development policies. Ultimately, this creates a resource for planners and local government officials to understand the factors influencing economic success in urban areas and provides strategies for economic development approaches geared to the characteristics of place that are the most attractive to the people and the businesses operating in the new economy. Through the creation of a framework of successful economic development characteristics, and the review of a case study community – that of Stockton, California – in which to apply such characteristics, economic development approaches can be better understood and utilized by public officials. The research conducted in this thesis offers an option for government officials to improve the chances of achieving success in their economic (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carla Chifos (Advisor) Subjects: Urban and Regional Planning

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2004, Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning: Architecture (Master of)

Over the course of our country's history, people have gradually been moving farther and farther away from the city's center. Not only residents, but also retail establishments and places of employment are abandoning the city and choosing to locate on the outer fringe of metropolitan areas. As this trend continues, the lack of people and commercial investment is causing our cities to decay. For the sake of our cities, there is now a greater need than ever to explore ways to reverse this outward pull toward the metropolitan fringe. By exploring the history behind outward migration, current examples of downtown revitalization, and forces that act as a means to attract people back to the central city, this thesis will propose a solution to the blight facing many of our nation's downtowns. Specifically, these findings will culminate in a design project located in a largely abandoned district in downtown Toledo, Ohio.

Committee: Barry Stedman (Advisor) Subjects: Architecture

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2004, Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning: Architecture (Master of)

American cities have become increasingly complex. Within the last century alone, cities have seen the explosion of interstate highways, the growth of suburban development, and the social implications that result from the diversification and disorganization of our nation's cities and communities. These shifts have fostered the growth of specialized nodes of activity surrounding the traditional city center and have created networks of unique enclaves of activity. For much of the past century, sociologists, architects, urban planners and business leaders have searched for tools to appropriately model these changes in order to better understand their affect on the current culture. A progression can be seen in the models of urban land use, retailing forms, and community structure that lead to the same end. These nodes of specialization are becoming ever more powerful, as consumers and community residents look to appropriate a certain amount of the experiential qualities they offer. No longer do Americans merely purchase a product off the shelf. Instead, consumers are looking to buy into the experience, environment, and lifestyle promised by the ownership of a certain commodity. This need also applies to residential communities. By following the implications found in the progression of the presented models, an examination of the historic Milford downtown will show the potential of a new model. Through the exploration of Milford's long history and the application of appropriate limiters to downtown scale and use, the area will provide the experiential retail and community centered environments that consumers and residents have been lacking. The end project will support the growth of a strong community consciousness.

Committee: Barry Stedman (Advisor) Subjects: Architecture

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2002, Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning : Community Planning

The conversion of lofts, old industrial and commercial buildings, for residential use is a recent trend among many cities in the US. Most loft conversions take place in areas experiencing urban decay and heavy loss of population, such as inner city areas and former industrial locations. Due to changing economic, cultural and technological patterns these areas are often left susceptible to urban blight. The adaptive re-use of buildings for residential use seems one of the best ways of revitalizing urban centers. Loft conversions are unique with embedded opportunities and challenges. The market segment attracted to urban life is unique too, consisting mainly of a narrow yet expanding segment of young professionals and empty nesters who are attracted to urban life. The city offers an opportunity for a life rich with cultural diversity. It is worthwhile for Cincinnati to capitalize on the increasingly popular trend of loft living to revitalize its urban center.

Committee: Kiril Stanilov (Advisor) Subjects: Urban and Regional Planning

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2011, Geography

Due to changing local, national and global economies, the process and practice of downtown revitalization in many Midwestern cities have undergone significant changes over the last several decades. The form and function of downtown are no longer a strictly local issue, but have socio-economic processes across geographical scales. This thesis provides a comprehensive review of the practice of downtown revitalization in Columbus, Ohio paying particular attention to how the geographic concepts of “space” and “place” have been used in the construction of modern downtown areas. While the early practice of downtown revitalization was concerned with the redevelopment of obsolete and abandoned local downtown areas, more recent revitalization initiatives by Midwestern cities are focused on maneuvering global spaces by marketing local places. Recognizing the increasing spatial mobility of human and business capital across the globe, cities seek to attract, capture, and retain these elusive flows in their cities. In order to accomplish this task cities have turned to increasingly innovative and entrepreneurial planning to establish downtowns that are competitive “global places.” Through the implementation of carefully planned downtown revitalization strategies and aggressive place marketing over the last two decades, the Columbus downtown has been transformed into a mixed-use environment. Unlike early downtown renewal projects aimed at functionality and urban design (every city wanted a convention center, waterfront park, indoor mall, and sports arena) the new global competitive environment requires cities to set themselves apart, creating “sticky” places in downtown. This research shows that the importance of “place” in a world which mobile capital increasingly treats as “place-less” has only been enhanced as cities seek to distinguish themselves in the urban hierarchy. The construction and marketing of local places for global consumption in many cities usually starts with do (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Daniel Sui PhD (Advisor); Edward Malecki PhD (Committee Member); Jennifer Evans-Cowley PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography; Urban Planning

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2010, Geography

An ongoing challenge for planning and design professions is integrating place perceptions with future development plans to promote sensitivity to local contexts. This sensitivity is particularly important for planners initiating downtown revitalization in the face of deindustrialization and shrinking urban populations. Using the case study of downtown Middletown, a post-industrial city in southwest Ohio, this study explores methods of gauging and articulating local sense of place by gathering community stories, conducting semi-structured interviews, and engaging participants in public forums. It relies on an understanding of place as changing through space and time amidst complex social interactions, and it investigates community participation in the planning process as a way to assess relationships to the downtown and the community. The study reveals that planners and designers may need to tap into these place perceptions prior to establishing a meaningful framework for community participation.

Committee: David Prytherch PhD (Advisor); Robert Benson PhD (Committee Member); Bruce D'Arcus PhD (Committee Member); Marcia England PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography; Urban Planning

Master of Urban Planning, Design and Development, Cleveland State University, 2011, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs

This paper examines the effect of poor school quality on neighborhood revitalization efforts in four Cleveland neighborhoods: Ohio City, Detroit Shoreway, Tremont and Downtown. The report employs survey research and real estate data analysis to examine the extent to which failing public schools encourage residents to leave the city for the suburbs, undermining efforts at revitalization. The research was particularly concerned with examining the effect on middle-class residents, or “residents of choice,” who chose to live in Cleveland although other options are available to them financially. Original research bore out common assumptions about the impact of poorly performing local schools on middle-class tenure in the city. A survey of 271 Near West and Downtown Cleveland residents revealed an overwhelmingly negative perception of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Prospective parents almost universally reported they do not perceive the urban school district to be a viable option for their future children. Only 9 percent reported they would remain in the city and send their children to a public school, given the opportunity. This attitude was reflected as well in the neighborhood's parents, a clear majority of which (65 percent) reported their children are enrolled in private schools. It is easy to see how this negative perception of the public school system could hinder residential and neighborhood stability. About 72 percent of those surveyed said they either “had not reached the stage in their life for children,” or had children that have not reached school age. A total of 62 percent of this population said they would move to a suburban district when the time came, or that they “weren't sure” whether they would move or stay. A supporting real estate analysis, although limited in scope, showed that 66 percent of neighborhood residents who sold homes valued at $100,000 or more relocated to a suburban municipality. These results have important implications (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brian Mikelbank PhD (Advisor); Edward Hill PhD (Committee Member); Dennis Keating PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning