Ohio

Columbus Developers Hope to Move Transit Riders

Business interests on a downtown commercial street complain a transit mall is making the area less attractive for retail.

November 5, 2010 - Streetsblog

Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Rail Against Rail

In Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, and California, the Republican gubernatorial candidates are all campaigning on pledges to return the high speed rail stimulus finds that the Obama administration recently awarded.

October 7, 2010 - The New York Times - U.S.

Blight Camouflage?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the city has begun covering the broken windows and doors of abandoned homes with plywood painted to look like functioning doors and windows as part of a program to fight blight.

September 3, 2010 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Most Successful Urban Planning - Ever?

Public Servant Blog dares to compile a completely subjective list of the Top 20 Urban Planning Successes of All Time, with selections ranging from the obvious (Amsterdam) to the less so (Marimont, Ohio). See if you agree.

August 10, 2010 - Public Servant Blog

Cleveland Development Could Connect Food Wholesalers With Public

A proposed development on a vacant lot in ailing Cleveland could connect locals with a little-known asset of their community - a cluster of food wholesalers.

July 27, 2010 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

City of Columbus Adopts Far-Reaching Downtown Plan

Building on the urban renaissance of the last decade that saw residential population increase for the first time since 1950, the City of Columbus has set a bold vision for the future with the adoption of the 2010 Downtown Columbus Strategic Plan.

July 21, 2010 - The Columbus Dispatch

Depaving Rural American Roads-Literally

Rather than being part of a car liberation or permeable pavement movement, poorly maintained county roads are having their asphalt ground into gravel as a cost-cutting measure to avoid costly road reconstruction. Lack of funding is the cause.

July 19, 2010 - Wall Street Journal - U.S.

Sound Walls Made From Grass

The Ohio Department of Transportation is experimenting with "green noise walls" instead of the standard eyesore, using bags of soil sprouting greenery as an alternative to concrete.

July 19, 2010 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cleveland Deals With "James Drain"

The Urbanophile explains that although Lebron James was never going to turn around Cleveland alone, his departure is indicative of the city's reliance "on a never-ending cycle of “next big things” to reverse decline."

July 15, 2010 - New Geography

Cleveland: The Garden City?

Cleveland, Ohio has pursued an aggressive policy of greening it vacant and underused land. A program called Garden Boyz employs local youth to tend the gardens, keeping the landscape vital and keeping the kids out of gangs.

July 2, 2010 - Next American City

Transit Aid: The Operating Vs. Capital Dilemma

Transit advocates are used to battling the 'road lobby', but this article reports on a clash between small and mid-sized transit agencies (who want more flexibility) against the larger ones, as well as the main transit lobbying organization, APTA.

June 14, 2010 - The Washington Post

A Blight Fighter in Ohio

Judge Raymond Pianka of Cleveland’s Housing Court has taken a hard line on landowners that let their homes fall into disrepair, blighting suffering neighborhoods. But a higher court may be clipping Pianka's wings.

June 12, 2010 - Next American City

Looking Forward to the Future in Columbus

Like Daniel Burnham's famous Chicago plan, a bold plan for Columbus, Ohio has been proposed by the Columbus Downtown Development Corp. The plan, developed by consultant MSI Design, hearkens back to turn-of-the-century city plans that went unrealized.

May 27, 2010 - The Columbus Dispatch

Small Efforts in Fight Against Cincinnati Food Deserts

A major grocer in Ohio is trying to keep some of its smaller stores open in areas that would otherwise be food deserts. But profits are hard to come by, and stores continue to move out of town.

May 18, 2010 - The Cincinnati Enquirer

Families and Children Fleeing Cleveland

As Cleveland, Ohio has lost population over the last decade, a disproportionate number of those leaving town are families with children. Today, only 10% of the city's population is nuclear families.

May 11, 2010 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Sustainable Transportation Divide

Grist's David Roberts attended a national conference on the future of transportation at Ohio State in early May and noticed a divide in the concluding discussion on how panelists approached the issue of sustainability in transportation.

May 10, 2010 - Grist

Learning From Cleveland's Healthline BRT

With a plan to distribute $775 million in federal funding for urban bus projects, Next American City's Yonah Freemark suggests using it to fund projects like Cleveland's Healthline BRT.

May 6, 2010 - Next American City

Un-Eminent Domain Effort Fails

The city of Dublin, Ohio, is trying to un-eminent domain some land it acquired from a local landowner. The project it had seized the land for has since fallen apart, and the city now wants its $5 million payoff back.

May 5, 2010 - The Columbus Dispatch

Building A Bio-Med Hub in Cleveland

Fast Company's annual list of innovative cities takes a look at Cleveland, which has struggled with population loss but emphasized its identity as a center for health care industries.

April 28, 2010 - Fast Company

The Magic of a Passageway

A humble passageway through a building to a parking lot became a favorite public space with just a deli, a Starbucks, and some patio tables.

April 23, 2010 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.