MAKE YOUR MARK School of Planning
Impacting | Urban | Futures
MAKE YOUR MARK
A NEIGHBORHOOD EVENT : TO FACILITATE REVITALIZATION OF COLERAIN BUSINESS CORRIDOR IN CAMP WASHINGTON, CINCINNATI
PLAN 2012 | Planning Design Studio | Summer 2018
Edited by Danilo Palazzo, Arindam Roy, Sean Buckley, and Max D. Meritt Published: Cincinnati, January 2019
School of Planning
Impacting | Urban | Futures
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Summer Studio 2018 was a comprehensive effort from all the sophomore students of School of Planning. As instructors, the studio would like to mention special thanks to Kevin Wright and Joe Nicol for advising throughout the entire course. They helped in providing with the structure of the course and relentlessly worked with the students and the community persons to shape and execute the final event. The studio acknowledges the wonderful co-operation from James HellerJackson, and Joseph Gorman from the Neighborhood Council at Camp Washington, Cincinnati, for their time and experience that they shared with the us. Without James realizing the event would have not been possible. The studio is also grateful to the School of Planning Director at University of Cincinnati, Dr. Danilo Palazzo for stepping up and guiding the studio process whenever necessary. In terms of financial support, the event did not receive any large financial support however, the event would not have been successful without help in terms of paints, banners and wooden crates from the local businesses at Camp Washington. The studio also want to thank the School of Planning for providing with some financial support in times of dire need for the event. The event was held at a private vacant land owned by Shawn and the studio owes gratefulness to him. Shawn also formed one of the stakeholders of the community and enlightened us with ideas for the event. The studio would like to mention the benevolence of Chase Public for letting us use their microphone and sound system during the event. Lastly, the studio would like to thank all the residents of Camp Washington, the acquaintances of the students and all other people who attended the final event and helped in rendering the final event a successful one.
WORDS FROM THE INSTRUCTORS In the Summer of 2018, the Plan 2012 Planning Design Studio attempted a new approach of studio learning through direct involvement with the community. The students worked together over a stretch of seven weeks to conduct an event in the Camp Washington neighborhood of Cincinnati. The goal of the event was to identify and activate an abandoned site in the neighborhood that could act as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization. Joe Nickole and Kevin Wright were advisors of the studio and taking inspiration from their Neighborhood Playbook they helped the students to design an event that can generate in the neighborhood. As the instructors of the studio, our experience of teaching the studio have been very unique. The students got the opportunity to learn the needs and expectations of the residents. They were also directly involved with the stakeholders in order to design and conduct the event. The students were challenged to handle the obstacles and road blocks of real world planning process and learned how to execute design into reality. Given the time constraint of the studio schedule, the Plan 2012 studio was a valuable experience for the undergraduate urban planning students. Apart from their co-op opportunities, this has been their only exposure to the real world as an urban planner.
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INSTRUCTORS
STUDENTS Binita Mahato is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Regional Development Planning. Her primary research interests are interaction of social classes in public place, urban parks and plazas, and transit oriented development. She was a GIS intern at Cincinnati Area Geographic Information Syestems and completed her Masters in Community Planning from University of Cincinnati in 2015. Earlier, she worked as an architect in India for two years after completing a Bachelors degree in Architecture in 2011 from Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology Shibpur.
THE DESIGN TEAM WANG, YIYI
LI, JUNLIN
BUCKLEY, SEAN
MERRITT, MAX
Arindam Roy is a second-year Ph.D. student in Regional Development Planning. His primary research interests are placemaking, walkability and alternate modes of transportation. He was a GIS intern for three years at Iowa Department of Transportation and completed his Masters in Community Planning from Iowa State University in 2016. Earlier, he worked as an architect in India for two years after earning a Bachelors degree in Architecture in 2011 from Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology Shibpur. METCAF, JASMINE
ADVISORS
DESHUK, TIA
Kevin Kevin is a leader in community development, economic and real estate development finance/ planning, and placemaking. Kevin has led teams in the creation and implementation of dozens of projects ranging from small creative placemaking activities to multi-million dollar real estate projects. He worked as the Executive Director of the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation (WHRF) from 2011-2018 and was featured in national publications such as The Huffington Post. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Missouri State University and received a Master’s Degree in Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati with a specialization in urban real estate and neighborhood development.
BRYSON, ODUM
QUATMAN, BRAD
THE DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATION TEAM WEYAND-GEISE, NATE
REMBOLD, ABBY
PUTHOFF, HANNA
WANG, JIANYU
Joe Joe has 15 years of experience in urban design, architecture, and development. He has directed projects for public and private clients in over 25 states and 7 countries, ranging from targeted popup initiatives to billion-dollar developments of city districts and neighborhoods. He co-authored with Kevin Wright the Neighborhood Playbook in 2016 based on their collective experiences before launching together YARD & Company in 2018. Joe graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture. He is a co-founder of CNU-Midwest and a frequent contributor to Planning Magazine, Better! Cities and Towns, Planetizen, Smart Cities Dive, and the Congress for New Urbanism.
THE STORY-TELLING TEAM JOHNSON, ANDRE
REITH, ZACH
TREFFINGER, LEEANN
BAILEY, BENJAMIN
INTRODUCTION
10
PROCESS
12
SENSING
16
DATA
28
ISSUES
36
SITE
40
COMMUNICATION
48
STORYTELLING
54
DESIGN
60
EVENT
72
REFLECTION
78
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Three Phases of the Studio: Qualitative and quantitative approaches of understanding the facts and phenomena of a context – neighborhood and site. Data gathering, analysis and mapping methods. Quantitative site selection methods - performing suitability analysis, SWOT analysis, network analysis. Identification and illustration of issues and problems through data
analysis. Conduct case studies and acquire ideas from best practices Working and communicating with the stakeholders. Developing community engagement skills and incorporating their feedbacks in design development. Involving with a project from conception to implementation. Different elements and stages of planning process. Measuring outcomes of implementation. Teamwork, management, marketing, storytelling, design & development.
Phase 3: ACTIVATION & IMPLEMENTATION (4 weeks) Acting: working on marketing and storytelling, design, development and data analysis, community facilitations for activation, developing concepts and working-proposals, and conducting event · REFLECTION (1 week) Reflecting: reporting and presenting final learning outcomes – how activating a space can be a catalyst to neighborhood revitalization
INTRODUCTION
PLAN2012 studio focused on a bottom-up approach of neighborhood revitalization in the Camp Washington neighborhood of Cincinnati. In 2017, Camp Washington adopted a comprehensive plan that outlined the future development possibilities of the neighborhood. This studio worked towards a demand-based approach of neighborhood planning and development that resonates with the 2017 Camp Washington Neighborhood Comprehensive Plan’s goals and objectives. The coauthors of The Neighborhood Playbook, Kevin and Joe, were the advisors to the class and guided the students through a step-by step process of demand building and incremental development. This approach, which is different than the typical supply-first model, helped the students develop placemaking, engagement, marketing, site design and critical thinking skills all the while working alongside with community stakeholders and seeing a neighborhood scale initiative from beginning to end.
Phase 1: COGNITION (2 weeks) Sensing: sensing the site, Information gathering, subjective mapping and Analyzing: identifying the issues of the neighborhood, finding potential site, case studies on neighborhood activation, and conducting background research. Phase 2: ACTIVATION & IMPLEMENTATION (4 weeks) Acting: working on marketing and storytelling, design, development and data analysis, community facilitations for activation, developing concepts and working-proposals, and conducting event. REFLECTION (1 week) Reflecting: reporting and presenting final learning outcomes – how activating a space can be a catalyst to neighborhood revitalization.
Everyday thousands of students are exposed to the severe weather of Cincinnati, without a shelter to protect them.
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Source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/boy-being-dropped-off-by-school-bus-gm471147047-8516674
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The very first phase of a planning process is the design of the process itself. At the start, the studio worked on an elaborate discussion and then finalized the different steps to go through during the semester in order to reach the final goal.
PROCESS
1. SENSING
The issues were identified at first individually by each of the students, discussed in class and then jotted down in the white board. Emphasis Based on was given on discussing Qualitative and the issues in the class Quantitative Data, the along with their causality, students identified the thus classifying the issues issues within Camp as primary, secondary or Washington tertiary. This exercise made it possible to prioritize one issue over another.
4. SITE SELECTION
MAKE YOUR MARK
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Data on Traffic, Landuse, Crime, Demographics, Local Businesses were collected and mapped
7. ASSEMBLY
Each action team proposed respective action plans for the execution of the final event.
3. ISSUES
9. FEEDBACK
6. PROPOSAL Storytelling team finalized the event logo, banners and posters. They were distributed by the Communication team. The Design team worked with the Communication team to allocate resources for final design. Communication team finalized targeted attendees, stakeholders, vendors and a detailed schedule for the event.
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A number of criteria were identified and used along with site suitability analysis and Primary criteria for site selection was ownership as the SWOT anlysis to owner of the site had to be on-board with the event. find ideal site Other important aspects were location (high visibility, medium traffic), size of the site (optimum for 100 people gathering), site condition (reasonably good) and proximity to Colerain Avenue
The studio concluded by reflecting back at the event and its contribution in instigating the envisioned change in the neighborhood.
After finalizing the action plans, the teams worked towards preparing and assembling event nitty-gritties.
2. DATA COLLECTION After qualitative study of the neighborhood, students collected the quantitative data on various aspects of the neighborhood. This included the creation of a historical timeline with important events in the neighborhood along with the typical planning data.
8. THE EVENT
5. ACTION TEAMS The students were grouped into three action teams –Storytelling – for branding of the event, Design – involved in designing and setting-up the site; and Communication – communnicate with the community and stakeholders, manage vendors and other logistics for the event.
After the final event, the students and teams presented an overview and reflection of the event. The purpose of this exercise was to understand the efficacy and flaws of the studio process and to evaluate the performance of the event as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization.
Students were divided into three action teams in order to organize and execute the final event. 15
PROCESS
This included documenting trips to the neighborhood through photographs, collages, and sensory maps describing the surface character of Camp Washington. Students observed Camp’s industrial roots, vibrancy, and walkability. Maps were made for human activity, litter, facades and fencing typology.
PROCESS DIAGRAM
On the eve of the event, the teams worked together to prepare the site for the event, assemble and build the designed elements, such as the stage, parklet, and arrange all other necessities of the event
Students explored Camp Washington using their senses of sight, touch, smell, and sound
The Sensing component of the study helped to develop an unique understanding of the Camp Washington neighborhood. On the first day of class students visited the neighborhood, took photographs and clustered them into categories, each depicting the characteristics of the neighborhood. The second phase of sensing required the students to individually compose collages from the photographs taken. The collages showcased different natures of Camp Washington and made the students to think of the neighborhood more than a single picture. Based on these varied themes, in the third phase of sensing, students went out as different groups in different parts of the neighborhood observing the subjective elements such as fencing, litter, human activity and facades. This systematic observations yielded to create subjective maps of the neighborhood and made the students comprehend the neighborhood in more completeness than what is possible through sole quantitative data.
SENSING
SENSING PHOTOS
INDUSTRY
Industry: Camp is an industrial neighborhood that still holds the same function today as it has over the last hundred years. There is still metal pouring, coin making, meat packaging, pallet making, and many other types of specialized jobs available in Camp. Vibrancy: Camp Washington is a vibrant, lively neighborhood. There is a high intensity of artists residing in the neighborhood and they want to showcase them through the colored objects found along the streets. Camp has murals, paintings, and the notorious American Sign Museum within it. Architecture: Architecture is another important character of Camp specifically there is a trend of tall windows followed by precise detailing on the caps of buildings. Most homes were built in the 1880s and some of them have been preserved with care.
ART/VIBRANCY
ARCHITECTURE
SENSING PHOTOS
DISREPAIR
Disrepair: Dilapidated and failing structures. Why were buildings boarded up? Why were bricks missing from the side of a house? Students observed that there were a lot of missing pieces within structures in Camp Washington. This set of photos provides clear indications of disrepair among structures in the area. Protection: Fencing was a common characteristic that was present in the neighborhood. Several written signs read ranging from “Beware of Dog” to “Clean Up after your dog”. This can perhaps be explained by the influx of outside people that travel there each day for work.
PROTECTION
SENSING
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COLLAGES
One way to look at Camp Washington is through it’s variety of occupations that exist. These include but are not limited to: coin making, welding, printing, meat packaging, and woodworking. One of the collages represents these different occupations through clip art Many people chose to look at Camp Washington through an architectural context. The architectural beauty in the neighborhood was appealing and students formed an appreciation for it, represented in some of the themes of the collages. The multistory row structured buildings with precise details helped to formulate connections between the landscape and the man-made structures. In line with one of the first themes identified as Industry, a student put together a collage of characteristics and objects that displayed the industrial components of Camp Washington: stacks of pallets, high rise warehouses, and full brick buildings.
SENSING
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SENSING 23 22
SENSING MAPS
SENSING
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HUMAN ACTIVITY
LITTER
Graphically showing street activity. Maps also included where people were gathering, walking dogs, or seen. Human activity helped us identify where popular spots in the neighborhood were and where residents or workers preferred to gather.
Through mapping litter on a variety of levels, it was identified how much people valued particular areas throughout the neighborhood. For example, the maps proved that most garbage was collecting around the industrial, work related areas of the neighborhood. This is important as the number of people commuting to the neighborhood is triple than the residents. The workers do not dispose trash properly probably due to their lack of attachment to the neighborhood.
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SENSING
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FENCING
FACADE STUDY
The purpose was to look for Welcoming fences vs. not welcoming fences. Along with level of protection, it was identified how people valued their property through the exterior fences along the road. Tall, wired fences exhibit the characteristic that owners do not want visitors to enter their property. Small, decorative fences represent a more welcoming property owner. It was deciphered through mapping the fences in Camp that majority of fences were not welcoming. Most of them were chain linked with hanging signs that read “private property�, and topped with barbed wire. Several wooden fences were broken or missing pieces which did not display a sense of upkeep. It was interesting to find a cluster of welcoming fences in one of the tightly knit residential areas of the neighborhood.
Mapping of facade typology helped identify the buildings’ gesture towards the passer by. They were categorized as active, semi active, or inactive. Active meant that building facades had openings or textures that could be touched and felt while walking as pedestrians, or had murals or paintings. Semi active meant that the building facade was devoid of much elements but could be touched or at a small distance from the streets. Inactive meant the facades were far from the pedestrian walking experience. Overall, the facades revealed higher activeness within the southeastern portion where most of the current residents live.
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Data about the neighborhood was collected from various sources and put together to gain perspectives on the aspects of the neighborhood those could not be gazed or left to eye estimation. Primary objective of this step was to understand the demographic composition, their educational attainment, historical context and traffic data. Focus was also given to understand the current zoning and land use distribution in the neighborhood. The data collected in this step along with the sensing information, crucial issues of the neighborhood were identified in a later stage.
DATA
CAMP WASHINGTON DEMOGRAPHICS
A timeline was created to depict the population changes over time and its corresponding events. At the year of 1910, due to industrial development, the population skyrocketed to more than 10,000. Continuously, by the year of 1930, the population reached 12,000. After its peak, the population decreased to 4,000 by the year if 1970. Its down trend gaps down to 3,000 residents by the year of 1980.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
DATA
CAMP WASHINGTON
1640
CINCINNATI
HAMILTON COUNTY
298,860
808,405
Population as of 2015
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CAMP WASHINGTON DEMOGRAPHICS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
The demographic data on income, education and population change, the years 2000 and 2010 seem to be a very important one. The average household income is seen to be decreasing slightly from 2000 to 2010 but again increases since 2010. The population growth is steady since 2010 with a growth in the population in the educational attainment of the people. However, there seem to be little change in the average household income from 1990 to 2015.
AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME
The data about racial distribution yields an insight showing the proportion of African-American population has gone up since 1970s. Also the data about age shows a gradual decline of children and senior population from 1970s. This might be indicating that the dwelling conditions have deteriorated over time in Camp Washington. RACIAL DISTRIBUTION
DATA
AGE DISTRIBUTION
POPULATION CHANGE
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CAMP WASHINGTON
The maps on land use shows a very high proportion of government parcels that is used for the railway tracks. It is also evident from the land use that very less space is assigned for residential purposes. Analyzing the crime data map, it is seen the majority of violent crimes is near the central part of the neighborhood where land use is mostly light industrial. The violent crimes also seem to show a close proximity to Hopple Street that transverses the neighborhood into a north and south half. In terms of vacant parcels and vacant buildings, there exists two bigger clusters in the north and south of the neighborhood. A number of smaller vacant parcels and buildings are seen throughout the neighborhood in residential areas.
VACANT PARCELS AND VACANT LAND
LAND USE
CRIME
The traffic data, especially within the neighborhood is a powerful indicator of the roads and streets that have more car access. As the studio aimed at revitalizing the business corridor at Colerain Ave, the traffic data helped to understand how and where commercials could be created to appeal the flowing traffic, and make Camp more of a destination than just a commuting corridor. The number of local businesses shows the potential within the neighborhood for developing a strong business association that could work together to foster the economic future of the neighborhood as a whole.
TRAFFIC
LOCAL BUSINESSES
DATA
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Based on the sensing studies, data analysis and dialogues with the community persons, students identified a number of issues in the neighborhood. The identified issues were then used to figure out the theme and activities of the event to be planned.
ISSUES
ISSUES ISSUES
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the neighborhood. Issues like crime is also a matter of concern in the neighborhood as revealed in the crime data map. A lack of public gathering spaces was evident, along with a lack of green spaces, thus limiting outdoor activity spaces for the community. This was identified as a grave social limitation in the neighborhood. The segmentation by the Interstate is probably one of the common ones that is found in many cities of United States. In the case of Cincinnati, Camp Washington is perhaps one of those neighborhoods that was hit hard by the growth of interstates. Though high Industrial land use was marked as an issue for Camp Washington, it might have a tremendous potential in times to come for the revitalization of the community. Low commercial land use, fragmented block patterns, lack of pedestrian destinations and street litter were also some of the other issues those were derived from the study.
ISSUES
A number of issues were identified by the students through the Sensing exercises and data analysis of the neighborhood. One of the most critical issues was the large transient population that commuted to Camp for their jobs but left after work. The lower amount of residential land use along with vacant buildings and vacant parcels resulted in a low number of residents living within the neighborhood. This meant a high daytime population and vice versa during the night time. From sensing maps, it was evident that the community is a closed off community. From community engagement, the students found that only in the recent past some parts of the community have started to open up and attract artists to the neighborhood. The proximity to the highway and some high-speed roads like Spring Grove Avenue and Hopple Street create the issue of noise pollution. The students found that there is also a dearth of fresh food sources available in close proximity to
Transient Workforce
Closed o community
Noise Pollution
Food Desert
Crime
Lack of public gathering spaces
Low amount of Green Space
Segmented by Interstate
High Industrial Land Use
Street Litter
Vacant Buildings
Fragmented Blocks
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After our initial impressions of the neighborhood began to unfold, we sought to choose a location for our event to take place based on three criteria: location, ownership, and size.
SITE SELECTION
SITE SELECTION & ANALYSIS
FINAL SITE SELECTION CRITERIA PRIVATE PROPERTY FOR EASE OF PERMITS OWNER OF PROPERTY ON-BOARD WITH EVENT PROXIMITY TO COLERAIN AVENUE OPTIMUM IN SIZE FOR 100 PEOPLE GATHERING PROXIMITY TO ORGANIZATIONS LIKE CHASE PUBLIC NOT ADJACENT TO A HIGH-SPEED STREET
2. 1378-1380 Hopple Street
5. 2870 Colerain Ave.
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2
5 4 3
CHASE PUBLIC 2874
SITE 42
3. Marshall | Colerain Intersection
4. 2870 Colerain Ave.
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SITE
1. Marshall | Colerain Intersection
One of the major decisions to be made in our process was selecting a location for the event to take place. The goals of the selection included: establishing a location best associated with the character of Camp Washington, maximizing the site's unique attributes, and choosing a location with a friendly owner who would allow the greatest flexibility.
SITE
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Site Conditions Before Event
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THE BIGGER PICTURE
Activation of the business district relies on two major nodes to bring people in: NODE 1: Hopple & Colerain NODE 2:Marshall & Colerain
The bigger picture is, at first, not as broad as the entire Camp Washington neighborhood, although it eventually will be. For this event, the focus is on the blocks located south of Hopple St, and north of Marshall Ave. The main street of this area is Colerain Ave, a historic business district that has been forgotten and neglected after the construction of I-75. Much of the Camp Washington’s circulation runs through Hopple Street, which bisects the neighborhood. The main objective of the event and the site is to bring circulation back through Colerain Avenue, with new businesses and entertainment options through the corridor.
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These are the two intersections at each end of the historic business district. These nodes will be activated eventually through the process of activation on the rest of the corridor, and using placemaking and wayfinding techniques to direct new traffic through the district. The site is an open space located in the center of these two nodes along Colerain Ave, making it a catalyst for new development in the district.
SITE
The site chosen on 2780 Colerain Avenue is in the center of the historic Camp Washington business district. The neighborhood has an established vision for this corridor, that includes enhancing the community and the economy with new businesses and entertainment options, as outlined in the Made In Camp Plan. The site and event chosen are meant to act as a catalyst for future development of Camp Washington.
The plan for activating will focus on entertainment and shopping. There is already a plan for a coffee shop in front of the site. Beside the site the Made in Camp Plan suggests a container park. The park might include a two-story container shop, and two art galleries. People can buy some Camp Washington’s special product in the shop and visit some Camp Washington’s art works in the art galleries. At the upper side of Colerain Avenue, the plan is to create a theatre, two restaurants, a salon and a shopping mall to serve for people’s entertainment and shopping requirement.
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The Development and Communications team was responsible for engaging stakeholder and sponsorship strategies throughout the studio process. Researching permit options, contacting local artists, vendors, and funding opportunities were other tasks the communications team played a major role in.
COMMUNICATIONS
ROLES
VENDORS AND STAKEHOLDERS
COMMUNICATIONS
PERMITS CONTACTING ARTISTS VENDORS STAKEHOLDERS FUNDING & SPONSORSHIP STRATEGIES TIMELINE FOR THE PROCESS
Permits Alcohol permit was not obtained as it needs at least 60 days and the studio duration was less than that. The students talked to James, from the CDC, about using their insurance and seemingly got approval for that. Otherwise, all other permits were received as the event was on a private property. The parklet needed a permit for the right-of-way, but the decision was to ask for forgiveness, in case of an issue with the city. Contacting Artists Much of the work regarding contacting artists was similar to marketing the event. Students contacted Wavepool, the Welcome Project, and People’s Liberty’s AntiFashion Boot Camp. The idea of artists performing at the event was scrapped due to a lack of funding, instead a stage was set up for performances from the participators at the event. Vendors The initial idea was for having at least two food vendors, however due to lack of assurance of a large crowd, only one food vendor was selected. While Eli’s BBQ was willing to come to our event for free, the students selected JustQ’in due to their enthusiasm for participating in such an event. Rhinegeist was willing to donate 8 cases, but the studio decided not to pursue alcohol. This was per the Storytelling team, and the direction they chose. Stakeholders On the first day of class, the studio went down to Camp Washington to meet James, and other community members. After a few meetings with the community persons and local business owners, the students learnt the requirements for the event; which included having stakeholders in the event. Once the class was split up into action teams, further communications took place with the stakeholders and a list of them was finalized. The final list included Cal Cullen, Sean Mullaney, Spencer Deutsch, James Heller-Jackson and Whitney Reardon. Funding and Sponsorship Strategies While there was a need of financial sponsorship, the students also reached out to local businesses for use of supplies. There was no financial sponsorship by stakeholders or businesses. Most of the support received was in terms of supplies for the event. As there was requirement for at least some funding, the students decided to perform two bake sales in the University of Cincinnati campus. An amount was $80 was raised. Some funding was also received from the School of Planning.
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TWO CENTS COFFEE
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The students, along with the course instructors and advisors met multiple times with the neighborhood association and stakeholders. They walked together through the Colerain Avenue, the primary commercial corridor, understanding the existing businesses, vacant buildings and future proposals. The students presented
their initial findings of data, suggested names for the events and discussed the existing issues in the neighborhood. Suggestions were taken from the stakeholders and neighborhood association representative for what might be suitable or unsuitable for the final event.
COMMUNICATIONS
The students organized a two-cents coffee event for two alternate weeks before the event on the pedestrian pathway by the site. The idea was to interact with the people in the neighborhood and develop an idea about what kinds of events people wanted there for the final event. Also a brief survey was designed to know from the passer-by crowd about what they thought was lacking in their neighborhood and what kind of use they wanted to see in the site. The event also acted as a promotional activity for the final event.
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION MEETINGS
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Storytelling is an essential part of community engagement and is a way Planners can communicate new ideas to the public. Throughout this summer studio the Story Telling team was responsible for communicating the studio's thoughts, ideas, and intentions for the event to come.
STORYTELLING
LOGO
The logo design was crucial as its purpose was to be personal as well as attract the potential audience. The concept behind the logo design was to depict that the event was not only about bringing the community together but also to convey the message of engagement and empowerment.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Owing to present world of omnipresent social media, facebook events and online newsletters were designed and sent out to the potential target audience. The facebook event in particular proved as a very efficient mode of storytelling as it was easy to share the event, as well as keep a watch on the number of viewers who viewed the event, were interested in the event and were going to attend the event.
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name and date. The process of choosing an event name and date took much more brainstorming and communication amongst class members, professors, and stakeholders than first imagined. However, this was a learning process that revealed the importance of an event name and date. The name is crucial as an event name phonetically and visually represents the purpose of the event as well as the target audience.
Needless to say, this process took some trial and error before the final name was chosen upon. This action team also created a mission statement that read, “The mission of the event was to create demand on Camp Washington’s historic commercial district (Colerain Ave)”. The storytelling took place through different sources of media and on site materials.
STORYTELLING
The objective of the marketing team was to create potential target demographics, storyboard the purpose of the event, social network, brand materials and flyers, create a mission statement, and lastly to create a logo all for the event. They accomplished this role of marketing and storytelling by using a website called Trello to properly organize tasks. The first goal was to decide upon an event
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FLYERS AND BANNERS
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STORYTELLING
Once the goals for the event were clearly established, the storytelling team decided on the activities at the event as per the target demographics. The media design tactics was also based on the target audience. This team also organized Two Cents Coffee flyers and the Make Your Mark in Camp Washington flyers to advertise the goals and objectives for the event. About one week was provided to come up with an event logo, that was finalized after a few alterations. Buttons with the event logo were also created at the downtown Cincinnati Library’s makers space. Moving forward, a few other design elements were created for the event such as the welcome sign banners, and an overall banner to display our studio’s process in creating this event for Camp Washington. Lastly, the storytelling team created a Facebook event and had a newsletter sent out to reach out to the potential target audience.
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After selecting our site and establishing the event will be centered around expanding Camp Washington's vibrant art scene, the Design team began programming the site
DESIGN
DESIGN
DESIGN THOUGHT PROCESS The Design Team focused on using site to create an affordable and executable event space for community activation in Camp Washington. The methodology was to approach the site design with a correlation between building, street, and space. Many brainstorming activities were used and whiteboard exercises were done to take a look at the elements of the site in its current form, the event form, and the potential features of the site in the future.
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EVENT PROGRAMMING
After researching case studies of community events and tactical urbanism strategies for space activation we came out with the goal of staying within a low budget and reusing abundant materials already found in the neighborhood. We reviewed these precedents to inform the design of our event. Community mural painting, way finding which would also highlight crosswalks, recycled planters and the use of pallets for furniture stood out to us as strategies we could use.
The construction of the parklet began with the selection of sturdy, well-balanced pallets. Scrap wood we had on hand at the site was used to join the pallets together, bamboo was then added and secured with string to provide shade and enhance the barrier between the newly formed space and the street. Once assembled lawn furniture and egg crates were added as seating and the parklet was ready for the event. As a class we worked together to do minor landscaping, laying of gravel and decorating the site to create a usable fun space that will hopefully be used well into the future.
Collaborative Wall Painting
The design process officially kicked off with the zoning of the space, establishing areas based on the intended activities and then design those smaller spaces based around the zoning.
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DESIGN
After Plan views were created and zones were established the design team created 3d models using SketchUp to effectively illustrate and communicate the purpose of the space. These models also aided in the construction. One of the concerns brought to light during the inventory phase of the project was the heavy traffic traveling on Colerain Avenue. With low parking demand in front of the space there was little barrier between pedestrians on the sidewalk and cars traveling on the street. A proposed solution was to park the food truck in front of the site and build a parklet beside it, effectively closing off the space to provide a greater ‘room’ feel and give pedestrians a barrier between the street and sidewalk.
Planting
Children Play
Stage Area
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CASE STUDY COMPILATION
3D SIMULATIONS DESIGN
Sources: https://www.casamentos.com.br/forum/minhas-inspiracoescha-de-casa-nova-tema-luau-moderno--t461867 https://airfreshener.club/quotes/small-concert-stage-set.html https://www.880cities.org/meet-k880-emerging-citychampions-jason-germane/
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http://www.diyhowto.org/diy-plastic-bottle-garden-projectsideas/2/ https://www.1001pallets.com/2015/06/14-ways-of-reusing-oldwooden-pallets-as-bike-racks/ https://mental-flowers.com/2016/09/20/madrids-crosswalksturned-into-colorful-works-of-art/
https://inhabitat.com/the-parkolation-project-helps-kids-andbrings-green-spaces-to-boston/ https://archinect.com/news/gallery/6017883/2/the-urbanphysic-garden-june-11-aug-15-london https://barbarafalcone.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/urbancoffee-farm-and-brew-bar/
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SITE PREPARATION AND ON-SITE CONSTRUCTION
DESIGN
Site Preparation was a huge task for the design team. The initial condition of the site included different wastes, heaps of muds, un-levelled ground, overgrown grass and plants. There were also some lizards and snakes on site. The design team worked hard through one week, cleaning the site, spraying with insecticides and levelling the ground. They also painted white on one of the worn out wooden walls that was to be used by the participators of the event to make their drawings. Construction of most types of furniture and other required elements for site were prepared in-situ on the day before and of the event.
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THE PARKLET
FUTURE VISIONS FOR THE SITE
DESIGN
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THE EVENT
EVENT PHOTOS & DOCUMENTATION
The Make Your Mark event brought around 50 new people to the site - increasing interest in what the space will become in the future and creating excitement along the Colerain Avenue business corridor. Community stakeholders, residents, and students participated in painting the wall, potting plants to take home, and enjoying the barbecue provided by Just Q-IN'.
EVENT
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EVENT BANNER FOR DISPLAY
To present our process to the public, a banner was hung on display briefly explaining the six main elements created throughout the studio.
EVENT
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REFLECTION
REFLECTION
The students presented the whole process of the event finalization and their reflections from the event. The presentation was attended by Dr. Danilo Palazzo and Prof. Barry Kew from School of Planning, and Joe Nikole, the course advisor. After the presentations they engaged with the students discussing the pros and cons of this unique studio experience.
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EVENT FEEDBACK
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REFLECTION
Overall the feedback around the event was positive. It was great to hear from the community and hear their input about what they would like in the space. An older couple who have lived in the neighborhood for decades felt the event was something “new and different� for the community. Other residents felt that a new development like a bar would be a great addition to the community since the Colerain Corridor lacks gathering places. The event space was filled with people engaging in the event activities. The mural wall was filled with amazIng works of art painted by members of the community. There was a great feedback regarding the event from the Camp Washington residents and community stakeholders. The event also got some attention from car traffic travelling through Colerain Ave. Given more time and effort on ground level, the event had the potential for improvements and involving a larger number of residents in the neighborhood.
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THANK YOU