02-07-10
KSU Spring Lecture Series
12-20-09
Public Square Concepts Go Public
Thread scheme : Exiting Terminal Tower / Field Operations
This past week, a steering committee comprised of members from Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA) and ParkWorks reviewed initial concepts for a redesign of Cleveland’s Public Square. Our CUDC office was on the design team, which was lead by James Corner’s Field Operations (FO). Our joint team was selected by the steering committee through an RFQ process back in October. The short time frame between team selection in October and initial concepts due on December 16th meant that we all had to work quickly to gather information on existing conditions, review studies already undertaken on future uses of Public Square and prepare images of alternative schemes for the steering committee to weigh in on.
The CUDC supported FO’s lead design work by assembling data and mapping of current conditions and providing “on-the-ground” information to FO regarding cultural and social context. In the process, we also created a time-lapse video of Public Square, which provides a clear visual of the constant shade condition on the southwest quadrant, closest to the Tower City entrance. Collaborating on a project with an office located in another city was a valuable experience and we’re very excited about the concepts developed.
06-15-09
The Bridge Project Charrette
For more info on the Bridge Project event, please visit: www.clevelandbridgeproject.com
Every year, graduate students at the CUDC take part in a community design charrette, which addresses the urban design needs of a particular site or neighborhood in Northeast Ohio. This year’s charrette will be part of the Bridge Project scheduled for September 25th and 26th.
During a typical charrette, students are asked to gather relevant data about the focus area in preparation for a community meeting where stakeholders and residents share their thoughts and desires for the neighborhood. The students then work along side CUDC staff to quickly develop design solutions and assemble presentations for the community. In years past, the student charrettes have focused on downtown Lakewood, the Jewish Community Federation site, the Howard Street corridor in Akron and Youngstown’s Oak Hill neighborhood.
06-03-09
Pop Up City @ MOCA
The Pop Up City animation, made by Gauri Torgalkar and David Jurca from the CUDC, was announced today as a winner of MOCA Cleveland’s Neighborhood Watch Video Competition! A narrative of a proposed development on the port site made by KSU graduate student Sukant Bhatnagar was also selected as one of the eight winning video shorts. The films will be screened in the Commons Area at MOCA throughout the summer 2009 season.
The video competition is a part of MOCA’s new exhibit, There Goes the Neighborhood, which opens this Friday, June 5th with an artist gallery talk from 6-7pm and opening reception until 10pm. The exhibit runs from June 5th through August 16th.
by david jurca
05-20-09
Pop Up City Book Trailer
It might not have the quick edits and intense action sequences of typical movie trailers, but we think our star moved pretty fast, for a panda.
Urban-Infill Volume 2: Pop Up City can be ordered from Amazon or from the Shrinking Cities Institute website.
Support for the Pop Up City initiative is provided by the Civic Innovation Lab and the Sears-Swetland Foundation. The publication of the Pop Up City book was made possible by funding from the George Gund Foundation and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
by david jurca
05-13-09
Terry Schwarz Receives Cleveland Arts Prize
Congratulations to our very own Terry Schwarz for being awarded the 2009 Cleveland Arts Prize! Terry is senior planner at the CUDC and an adjunct professor at Kent State University.
Terry was awarded the artist prize in design for her work surrounding the Shrinking Cities Institute at the CUDC, which addresses local population decline. The multifaceted work of the Shrinking Cities Institute includes the Cleveland Land Lab, the Pop Up City! temporary use intiative and two editions of the Urban-Infill Journal.
The awards ceremony will be held Thursday, June 25th at the Hanna Theatre in Playhouse Square. Tickets are available by calling 216 321-0012 or by email at info@clevelandartsprize.org.
by david jurca
05-08-09
CircletheUSA.com visits Cleveland
CircletheUSA.com, a website maintained by the Planning Commissioners Journal, is currently undertaking a cross-country road trip documenting notable city planning projects along the way. The recently concluded first leg of the trip stretched from Vermont to Cleveland and the second leg will continue on to Chicago. 
While in Cleveland, the blog’s author met with Terry Schwarz, Senior Planner from the CUDC, Bob Brown, Planning Director for the City of Cleveland and Bobbi Reichtell, Senior Vice President for Programs at Neighborhood Progress Inc., to discuss the Re-Imagining a More Sustainable Cleveland report. The visit and subsequent thoughts on Cleveland’s progressive strategy for addressing vacancy are presented in the Audacious…or Realistic? post.
05-05-09
A Piping Hot Slice from Designerosa
Designerosa! from david jurca on Vimeo.
Thank you to everyone that came out to Designerosa! All of us at the CUDC had a great time and we’re really glad to have met so many new people. We especially want to thank Heelsplitter, the amazing bluegrass band that travels to all their shows by bike, Greg Priddy, Indy and Greg Peckham for the miniature ponies (Cinnamon and Doodle), and Lois Moss from Walk + Roll Cleveland for bringing everyone together for Transportainment.
We’d also like to thank Kelly from KRA photography for taking the brilliant photographs shown below. You can see the entire Designerosa photo set and order prints at her client lounge, just type in “walkroll” as the password.
The new Pop Up City book we released at the event should be available on Amazon soon, but in the meantime, please visit our Shrinking Cities Institute website to order a copy.
04-10-09
Spring Studio ‘09 :: Design Stories
The spring semester graduate studio at the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative focused on the location of the current Port of Cleveland as its site for investigation. The students were asked to respond to the Cuyahoga County Port Authority’s RFQ (Request for Qualifications) released in December, which stated its interest in selecting a design firm,
“to develop a comprehensive master plan for an iconic and transformational redevelopment strategy for a portion of Cleveland’s downtown lakefront. This area is approximately 100 acres of industrial waterfront land, in public ownership, located between the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and the North Coast Harbor public venue and currently is used principally for commercial maritime activities.”