UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Date: 27-May-2010

I, Timothy Neely , hereby submit this original work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Architecture in Architecture (Master of) It is entitled: Rhineland’s a Fine-Land Once More: Mobility minded redevelopment of

Cincinnati’s historic OTR district

Student Signature: Timothy Neely

This work and its defense approved by: Committee Chair: Nnamdi Elleh, PhD Nnamdi Elleh, PhD

Aarati Kanekar, PhD Aarati Kanekar, PhD

5/27/2010 849

Rhineland’s a Fine-Land Once More: Mobility minded redevelopment of Cincinnati’s historic OTR district

A thesis submitted to the: Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati

In Partial Completion of the Requirements for the degree of: Master of Architecture

In The School of Architecture and Interior Design

Of The College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning

2010

by

Timothy Neely B.A. Columbia University, 2005

Committee Chairs:

Nnamdi Elleh Aarati Kanekar

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Abstract

The personal mobility of the automobile undermines the gathering of people in cities as centers of collective amenity. The isolation of auto traffic is reflected in buildings surrounded by parking with no detail at the human scale. Asphalt infrastructure characterizes the public space of the street with such a universal sameness that large parts of the city seem generic and placeless.

The potential introduction of a streetcar for the city of Cincinnati presents the occasion to design policy and built work that promote public life and the activation of public space. The neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine provides a unique setting to address the return of urban space to more pedestrian friendly scale as these buildings weren’t designed for the speed and isolation of the car. The location of the streetcar line and its stops allow opportunities to address both event space and the everyday space of the street. The public space of the street, its activation, and its “imageability” are the focus of this thesis.

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Table of Contents

Abstract iii

Introduction 1

Mobility and the American City 3

Car Based Development 5

Role of the Architect 7

Cincinnati Transportation Politics 8

Lessons from Portland 13

Life Between Buildings 17

Architecture of Collective Amenity 27

Purposeful Mobility 27

Townscape 30

Site Selection 32

Site History and the Over-the-Rhine Master Plan 33

Site Conditions 44

Project 49

Bibliography 59

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Images

Figure 1 - Center for Public Space Research/Realdania Research. “Close Encounters With Buildings.” Danish Architectural Magazine (2004): 7. Figure 2 - Center for Public Space Research/Realdania Research. “Close Encounters

With Buildings.” Danish Architectural Magazine (2004): 4.

Figure 3 – Jan Gehl New City Spaces. Copenhagen: The Danish Architectural Press,

2000. 42.

Figure 4 – Neely, Tim. Digital map made from GIS information. 2009

Figure 5 – Neely, Tim. Collage from pictures and Digital Diagram. 2009

Figure 6 - Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Introduction”, http://www.cincinnati- oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/

Figure 7 - Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Executive Summary”, http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/

Figure 8 - Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Executive Summary”, http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/ - pdf map altered by Tim Neely

Figure 9 – Cincinnati Streetcar Feasibility Study. “Streetcar Development Study Option.” http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/city/downloads

Figure 10 - Cincinnati Streetcar Feasibility Study. “Streetcar Development Study

Alternative B.” http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/city/downloads

Figure 11 - Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Transportation”, http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/

Figure 12 - Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Transportation”, http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/ , pdf altered by Tim Neely

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Figure 13 - Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Transportation”, http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/

Figure 14 - Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Economic Development”, http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/

Figure 15 - Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Quality of Life”, http://www.cincinnati- oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/

Figure 16 - Digital Diagram 2010

Figure 17 – Neely, Tim. Digital Diagram. 2010

Figure 18 - Neely, Tim. Digital Diagram. 2010

Figure 19 - Neely, Tim Rendering 2010

Figure 20 - Neely, Tim Digital Map

Figure 21 - Michael Schuster Associates, "Government Square Transit Center", http://www.msaarch.com/

Figure 22 - Michael Schuster Associates, "Government Square Transit Center", http://www.msaarch.com/

Figure 23 - Neely, Tim Digital Rendering

Figure 24 - Neely, Tim Digital Diagram

Figure 25 - Neely, Tim Digital Rendering

Figure 26 - Neely, Tim Digital Rendering

Figure 27 - Neely, Tim Digital Diagram

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Introduction

A city is defined by its streets and the space between buildings as much or more so than it is by its landmark buildings and singular destinations. This space is today characterized by an ever growing abyss of asphalt that has drained the richness of

Cincinnati's architectural heritage. Streets treated as conduit for transportation and utilities ought to be celebrated as public space and part of the identity of a city. As the dominant means of transport, the car is responsible for these deleterious effects on this space between the built environment. As the primary interface between private and public realms, all streets, signs, and buildings have become scaled to the speed of the car.

The car functions as an isolation chamber in the public realm of the street and has facilitated the undervaluing of public life by creating the illusion of an entirely privatized environment. One leaves his or her private home, gets in a private car, and arrives at a private business. This complete physical removal from the public realm allows for, and tacitly rationalizes, a disengagement from any sense of community and society at large.

The shift to auto traffic and the escape to the suburbs has dismantled the original purposes of gathering in cities. Cities are meant to be centers of collective amenity - not a stop on the way back to the suburbs. Transit is a large part of that collective amenity and the population density in urban centers is better served by a variety of transit options. Planners and architects have been aiding car development when they ought to be serving more humane needs.

pg. 1

Recognition of the benefits of mass transit has been lost somewhere in

America‟s acceptance of car culture; however, as the shortcomings the automobile become more obvious, so do the advantages of rail transit. Part of this thesis is to deconstruct the historical context - the policy and cultural milieu during which the rail transit options were deconstructred - to determine why Cincinnati has made such a complete and seemingly irreversible shift to rubber wheeled transit.

Mobility and the American City

During America‟s Industrial Revolution, cities grew at unprecedented rates.

European cities of similar or greater density had developed in smaller increments over longer periods of time. This more gradual approach to city living allowed a greater appreciation of the benefits of collective amenity, while being able to deal with its downfalls at a more reasonable scale, over a longer period of time. The quality of life spawned by the rush to industrial centers made American city dwellers wary of urban living. 1 (Kunstler 1993, 39)

The design of Central Park on Manhattan was a response to the ills of industrial urban living. The park became an escape to more bucolic setting, on what was the periphery of developed land on the industrial southern end of the island. It was not long after this development that what may be thought of as the first modern suburbs emerged on the periphery of New York and Chicago. These first developments built off private rail lines created a kind of linear suburb emanating from the city center. The

1 James Howard Kunstler, Geography of Nowhere (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 39. pg. 2 suburban home provided their owners with the peace, privacy, and green space they could not find in the city. The narrow tree-lined streets terminating in wooded squares suggest a design scaled to a human pace that respects a connection to nature.2

(Kunstler 1993, 39)

Early suburban development coincided with the formation of zoning laws. 1916 zoning laws protected domestic space from industrial space and other types of development by designating areas for different uses. For example, factories could be constructed anywhere, destroying the character of an area once mostly used for housing. The large scale production of car-based suburbs aided in protecting investments in private homes from developments that might decrease property values and quality of life. Subdivisions of suburban housing would also help protect people‟s investments from eminent domain. At the time it was not uncommon for the federal government or another entity to seize land for rail lines or other projects. 3 (Kunstler

1993, 55)

At the beginning of the 1900‟s rail transit was seen as a real estate venture benefiting the rich captains of industry – far from being seen as a public transit service.

The automobile‟s increasing affordability and the freedom of mobility that it provided, was seen as a more democratic form of transportation. The transition from rail also happened because of the rail tycoons‟ general mistrust and dislike of government intervention. At the same time, the auto and oil lobbyists were taking over town halls and funding political campaigns.4 (Kay 1997, 177) New rail lines and upkeep of the rail

2 James Howard Kunstler, Geography of Nowhere (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 48 3 James Howard Kunstler, Geography of Nowhere (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 55 4 Jane Holts Kay, Asphalt Nation (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997.) 177

pg. 3 lines were not only privately funded but heavily taxed. New roads, houses, and the infrastructure to support them all became subsidized by the government making it cheaper to continually expand outward rather than making upgrades to existing infrastructure and housing stock. Finally, a variety of oil and car interests purchased the lines, dismantled them, and replaced the streetcars or trains with buses. 5 (Kay 1997,

180)

Car Based Development

The early rail suburbs offered many improvements and conveniences to the prevailing urban model; however, several problems present themselves for this model particularly when they begin to be mass produced as an alternative to urbanity. Privacy and exclusivity were shaping principles of the early suburbs as much as fresh air and trees. The mansions of the early suburbs served as an escape from the exigencies of industrial urban life and were built for the men who profited off these polluting industrial processes. 6 (Kunstler 1993, 55) When the affordability of Ford‟s Model T enabled working-class Americans to make the same escape from the industrial centers as the barons of industry, developers cheaply attempted to apply the same principles. The problems with this model for society are the segregation of classes and the removal of housing from economic centers.

Building codes began to accommodate and further the dominance of the car on the urban and suburban landscape. Forced parking requirements have made the

5 Jane Holts Kay, Asphalt Nation (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997.) 180

6 James Howard Kunstler, Geography of Nowhere (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 48

pg. 4 parking lot into the most prominent or most common element of the visual field in new developments. Furthermore, in established or even historic neighborhoods, demolition for a new parking lot is often more profitable than renovation. In downtowns all across the U.S., eminent domain looms and developers petition to use the site for its “highest and best use.”

Malls emerged as an answer to the problems presented by urban centers to accommodate heavy car traffic and parking in dense commercial areas. Malls offer a simulacrum of the dynamism of an urban commercial corridor or region. Placed in the middle of a sea of asphalt for parking, malls avoid inconvenience of parking downtown, as well as the danger and filth of car traffic running between the stores. But malls only feign the social interaction of a downtown or public square because they are privately owned places of commerce. Political activity and social services do not occur here.

Any activity that interferes or agitates the one-dimensional program of shopping will be shut down by mall security. Too often these malls that replace city centers with the convenience and novelty of a new building leave towns that once benefitted from the increased sales and property taxes with a giant asphalt field for the parking once required during peak use. By the time that the mall becomes passé, the developer has long since made the return on their investment that they were after. The cost of renovation grossly outweighs the cost of creating a new mall to leapfrog their last investment so the cycle is repeated over and over in American cities from east to west.

7 (Smiley 2002)

7 Smiley, David J. Sprawl and Public Space : Redressing the Mall. (New York, N.Y Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.)

pg. 5

From the suburb to the city the space between houses and buildings is an abyss of grey asphalt: nothing to distinguish between the grey of suburbia, the grey of the parking lot, downtown, or at the mall. The isolation of the car creates an abstraction of space between destinations and no attention is paid to the experience at the pedestrian scale. Jane Holtz Kay asks, “how can there be any urban manifesto when motion dominates and development is promiscuous. When architecture is designed for automotive movement, for the whir of the road, for isolation not community, spread not core, the road undermines the built environment.”8 (Kay 1997 62) The abstraction of the “in between” space makes sense of the cacophony of buildings not designed for anything but to grab the attention of the peripheral vision of car travel.

Because the inaccessibility of these spaces outside of car travel, the parking lot becomes the most dominant programmatic space when looking at a plan of the corridors from city to suburb. The social isolation created by the car is mirrored in the way buildings relate to each other: each building has its own moat of parking spaces.

For Kay, sense of place and place for parking are mutually exclusive: “The more parking space, the less sense of place.” 9(Kay 1997 299)

Traveling from the private home to private institution by the private space of the automobile isolates people from their community and society. Often, the only connection to the world outside of the home and the workplace is through what is fed through the news media. The isolation enabled by auto travel and development based on car travel has created what Jane Holts Kay referred to as the “malaise of the good-

8 Jane Holts Kay, Asphalt Nation (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997.) 62

9 Jane Holts Kay, Asphalt Nation (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997.) 299 pg. 6 hearted.” Without interaction between classes there is no impetus or drive towards social equity and, I would argue, no chance for a sustainable society.

Role of the Architect

The issues of mobility and architecture are bigger than design of a building.

Public policy, politics, and municipal code play a large role in shaping the experience of the built environment.

Getting a building built is an extremely complicated coordination of developers, engineers, designers, and planners. Architects also work with lawyers and government workers to negotiate contracts, zoning variances, housing and social equity issues.

Architects have to know a little bit about all of these fields to deliver the product of a building for a client. One of these roles that is particularly challenging is the architect as politician. Architects ought to empower themselves politically, along with clients, to push through the subsidies, zoning code, and bureaucratic mechanisms that currently protect and advance car based development.

In the case of this thesis, political goals of equity in transportation options might lead to an architecture that supports public life, the democratic space of the street, and purposeful mobility rather than thoughtless sprawl. The architects‟ job is less gratifying if limited to builder, programmer, or aesthetician of buildings surrounded in asphalt.

The universal condition of the detrimental effects of the automobile on cities creates a unique set of problems for every city. It takes an effort at the political/ regional level to alter the effects of mobility on architecture and the human experience of

pg. 7 urbanity. The following chapter notes some of the problems and differing opinions that either progresses or halters public mobility options for a city.

Cincinnati Transportation Politics

"Shall the Charter of the City of Cincinnati be amended to prohibit the city, and its various boards and commissions, from spending any monies for right-of-way acquisition or construction of improvements for passenger rail transportation (e.g. a trolley or streetcar) within the city limits without first submitting the question of approval of such expenditure to a vote of the electorate of the city and receiving a major affirmative vote for the same, by enacting new Article XIV?" 10(www.smartvoter.com)

This was the language that appeared on the November 3rd, 2009 ballot in

Cincinnati. Although there has been some debate about the meaning as well as the authors of this language, it essentially means that money for any component of a rail transit project in Cincinnati would require a city-wide vote. Both sides of the debate over this issue presented good cases stirring up issues that must be grappled with in

Cincinnati politics. Both sides used less than straight-forward language and tactics to promote their respective sides of the issue.

While there was some debate as to who wrote the confusing language on the ballot, in an Urban Lobbying class at the University of Cincinnati, Chris Smitherman claimed at least part of the responsibility if not all. He made a very sound argument about how the expense of a rail transit project was not right for the city of Cincinnati at

10 Issue 9 Proposed Charter Amendment City of Cincinnati, Prepared by League of Women Voters. http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/oh/hm/issue/9/ pg. 8 this point in time due to the city's current deficit. The deficit ballooned because city budgets did not account for the unexpected downturn in the economy. The services that the city tax money and funds support were deemed too important to cut to achieve a balanced budget. In addition to economic concerns, and more poignant considering his role as the president of Cincinnati‟s chapter of the NAACP, he cited historic examples of transportation projects dismantling black neighborhoods in Cincinnati.

Specifically the I-75 interstate highway that cut through historic West End neighborhood in the 1950‟s. He also stated that bus transportation is underfunded and that the money supporting the street car lines would further exasperate the problem by dispersing funds that would better serve the black community. He also spoke about the “revitalization” work that has taken form as a result of the efforts of non-profit groups such as 3CDC.

The “yuppie” bars and overpriced “shell” building renovations were to Mr. Smitherman a kind of evidence of gentrification of the worst kind.

To further combat this issue of public transportation and infrastructure, Mr.

Smitherman aligned himself and his group with COAST (Coalition Opposed to

Additional Spending and Taxes). However, Mr. Smitherman‟s interests seem to be beyond “Tea Party” reactions to liberal federal spending. He seems genuinely interested in protecting the African-American community‟s interests in Cincinnati.

Ultimately, he stated his goals were surely not to stop progress for Cincinnati. His goal in acquiring signatures and placing the issue on the ballot was to force the City Council and other officials to be aware of the many points of view of the constituents of major public works projects and particularly the NAACP.

pg. 9

The group that opposed the issue was a coalition organized under the name

Cincinnatians for Progress. While perhaps not as oblique as the proposed charter amendment language itself, this groups political tactics are not so straight-forward as they claimed to be. The sound-bites and slogans from this group are unapologetically not about rail. In part, this seems to be because issue 9 is truly larger and more important than public transit options, but also in part because a light rail proposal had already been put down and rail transit is a highly contentious issue for Cincinnatians.11

The part of their argument that seemed rather convincing is that federal stimulus dollars might be missed out on if the issue passed, because Cincinnati would have to wait for the results of a city-wide vote before it could move ahead with any rail projects.

Funding available in the near future for an interurban high-speed rail line could bypass

Cincinnati in favor of other cities more interested in progressive development. The most embarrassing prospect being the shift of the 3C high–speed corridor (Cleveland,

Columbus, Cincinnati) to the 2C and an S line (the S being Sharonville). Similarly the local jobs created for the construction of the line and development along the line would be lost to other cities.

Another part of their argument was that the charter amendment would bring about a style of governance that is ineffective. Their sound bites referred to the chaos of California style referendum style governance. They made a point that City-Council members are elected for a reason and limiting their effectiveness defeats the point of the structure of Cincinnati government.

11 Cincinnatians for Progress, “We oppose Cincinnati Issue 9. Vote no on Issue 9, the anti-progress charter amendment.” http://www.cincinnatiansforprogress.com/About-Us.asp 2009

pg. 10

The problem with Mr. Smitherman‟s tactic of potentially defeating all rail transit for Cincinnati is that the community he is trying to protect could conceivably be helped by such a development much more than it would be hurt. Preventing development of this kind could prevent an increase tax revenues that would go to improving the

Cincinnati Public School system. The activation of vibrant street life could improve the safety of neighborhoods downtown. Overall, in protecting African–American citizens from a rail transit project, he may instead be protecting the status-quo.

The problem with the tactics of the Cincinnatians for Progress is that the signs were deceiving in that they did not enhance the debate about transportation for

Cincinnati. Government officials may have in mind their own careers and politics rather than on the long term needs of the city and its citizens.

Without thorough study, the application of the streetcar system for Cincinnati may not reach the level of success that it did in Portland. Without careful consideration and public debate any new rail project might not achieve the desired effect of servicing the public‟s transportation needs.

Despite the success of the Cincinnatians for Progress group in putting down

Issue 9 in the fall of 2009, and in their eyes keep hope alive for the streetcar, news came in the winter of 2010 that the streetcar project did not received federal funding.

The city had applied for $60 million of the $1.5 billion of funds allocated for transportation public works projects. The money was divided up amongst 51 different projects in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grants.

pg. 11

Four other streetcar projects did receive funds as well as many other projects for light rail. Tuscon, New Orleans, Dallas, and Portland were the cities that received funds to build or extend streetcar services. There are many possible reasons for Cincinnati‟s failure to receive federal funding. Many point to the lack of an established route as the cause for being dismissed by the federal grant opportunity. Less avid supporters from city council even point to the $20 million Kent, Ohio received for a multi-model hub as an embarrassment for those who developed Cincinnati‟s proposal. Only 6 of the 51 projects that were granted money received more than $50 million dollars – two of those were multi-city and multi-state projects, and two others were for projects in New York and Chicago. It is possible that the competition for the funding was too great, and

Cincinnati‟s demands were too high for the project to win money. In later meetings with

Federal employee‟s it was learned that they held funds because of a lack a funding match from the city and private sector. 12 (U.S. Department of Transportation)

Mayor Mallory seemed unphased by the defeat of the proposal and still considers the 2012 mark for an operable streetcar a viable and possible outcome. He traveled to

Washington again a week after the TIGER news to make proposals for other public works projects and to meet with Department of Transportation heads to discuss funding from the Urban Circulator Program. 13 (News.cincinnati.com)

Others are relieved by the failure of the plans and look forward to the debate to come about what some believe are more fiscally and socially responsible plans.

Perhaps this is can be viewed as an excellent opportunity to reflect upon what can be

12 U.S. Department of Transportation, Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Grants, http://www.dot.gov/documents/finaltigergrantinfo.pdf 2010 13 News.cincinnati.com, “No fed funds for Cincinnati” http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100217/NEWS01/302170043?GID=u417vcVHpoCAQKVTCC6x7S3p OoFAanFuCmgxdySyr2w%3D pg. 12 done in Cincinnati to gain the public support for the streetcar. It might also be a good time to seek out ways to get more monetary support from the private sector. Mayor

Mallory faces opposition from many fronts at this time and may need further study into the success of other cities‟ precedents.

Lessons from Portland

City leaders supporting the streetcar development in Cincinnati cite the precedent of Portland as a model of growth and reinvestment downtown. The Mayor and members of Council took a trip to Portland to see the modern streetcar in operation and to witness the development that aligns with the fixed track. But what Cincinnati is missing compared to the Portland model is decades of support for pedestrian traffic and urban life.

Portland already had a light rail system in place before the streetcar came in and brought billions of dollars of investment along its route. Funding for this initial rail project came from money that was diverted from a highway expansion. In addition to these efforts of preventing highways from tearing up urban communities, the city of

Portland was the first city in the US to establish an urban growth boundary. This measure limited the sprawl of suburban development and encouraged reinvestment downtown. Similar pedestrian minded policies include zoning code that requires display windows at the street level, a limit on the number of parking spaces downtown, and free bus service with covered stations downtown. 14 (www.oregonmetro.gov)

14 http://www.oregonmetro.gov Urban Growth Boundary” http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=277 pg. 13

Cincinnati has the opposite history. It has allowed endless sprawl and new developments continue to “leapfrog” over first and second-ring suburbs. New malls and communities are built on the ever-more distant new periphery and the outdated models are left abandoned and deteriorating in a sea of parking. Cincinnati allowed the construction of I-75 to dismantle West End neighborhoods that still have not come anywhere near recovery. Cincinnatians continue to support highway infrastructure expansions.

Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine master plans reflect the unchanged century-old attitude of most transportation planners, i.e., that traffic jams and parking inconvenience can be solved by building highways, widening lanes and demolishing more historic buildings to create parking lots.15 (Over the Rhine Comprehensive Plan). Jeff

Kenworthy of the Sustainable Policy Institute explains that in the post-war period it was considered possible to increase auto accommodations endlessly in order to keep the road system from slowing. The problem is that new traffic arrives in response to the increase in car accommodation and the roads and highways exceed capacity as soon as they are built. Traffic engineers and transportation planners now recognize this as induced demand. Conversely, when traffic facilities are removed, the kinds of traffic problems that traditional planners predict (backed up traffic, and slower average travel times) do not occur. Kenworthy explains that traffic engineers are used to thinking of traffic as a liquid, and if you block it or remove one of the channels the water will flood other channels. Experience with closing down highways is demonstrating that car

15 Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Transportation”, http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/ pg. 14 traffic behaves more like a gas which expands to fill the amount of space allowed. 16

(Kenworthy 60)

Portlanders experienced this when they removed a highway by the waterfront and replaced it with a park. Portland was a typical post-war city that shrinks and deteriorates with the expansion of the city outward into the suburbs. Its visionary transformation into something quite different began with combined efforts of citizens groups, the governor, and the mayor of the city. 17 (www.oregonmetro.gov) The changes that occurred in transportation did not arrive because of these leaders‟ ability to capture federal funding or because they brought public transportation to a citizenry that would thank them later.

It was a coalition of farmers, and environmentalists along with Gov. Tom McCall that came up with the Urban Growth Boundary as a measure to protect Oregon‟s farmland from sprawling development. A highly successful return of investment to the city center was not a goal of the UGB. Oregon‟s history as an environmentally friendly state gathered enough like minded people to put the idea of saving farmland into action.

18 (www.oregonmetro.gov)

Cincinnati can begin to look to itself for similar success in partnerships between city government and the private sector. The group 3CDC arose out of the 2000 master plan for Over-the Rhine. The group was commissioned by the mayor to organize

16 Kenworthy, Jeffrey. Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Island Press, 1999. 60

17 http://www.oregonmetro.gov Urban Growth Boundary” http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=277 18http://www.oregonmetro.gov Urban Growth Boundary” http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=277 pg. 15 funding and to plan the right kinds of investments to activate and revitalize the downtown area. Since 2005 alone, the group has brought in $167 million of investment into the area. There have certainly been some contentions about the kinds of development that have come into the area related to social equity issues in the Over-the

Rhine master plan. However, they have been highly effective in organizing funds and have brought a lot of development downtown. 19 (3CDC)

Portland‟s streetcar initiative began with the Streetcar Citizens Advisory

Committee. The committee meets once a month to discuss all types of development downtown but, as the title suggests, they are especially mindful of the influence of transit. Cincinnati could benefit from a city sponsored citizen transit committee as opposed to one solely interested in real estate ventures, and more parking opportunities.

If not an urban growth boundary, perhaps Cincinnati could employ a different kind of environmentally minded measure to inspire an entirely new impetus for a return to the city center. Investments in “green” technology and its development could inspire new growth and possibly a new mentality towards transportation options. Perhaps the streetcar project would be accepted by the public if it were powered by clean energy and did not contribute to the coal powered energy needs that keep Cincinnati‟s air quality below EPA standards. 20 (Environment Ohio)

19 3CDC “Follow Our Projects” http://www.3cdc.org/follow-our-projects/ 2010

20 Environment Ohio, “Ohio PIRG Report Ranks Cincinnati One of the Worst Cities For Poor Air Quality Caused by Dangerous Soot Pollution”, http://www.environmentohio.org/newsroom/clean-air-news/clean- air-news/ohio-pirg-report-ranks-cincinnati-one-of-the-worst-cities-for-poor-air-quality-caused-by- dangerous-soot-pollution , 2006 pg. 16

Environmental movements aside, auto based transport is a sinkhole of investment and reinvestment that can never be filled. The automobile that once symbolized democracy and freedom of mobility for Americans has come to symbolize sprawl and global warming. Any number of mechanisms might inspire more Americans to support a return to the city center. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, it may take a few more decades of falling behind the growth of other cities to react to the evidence of their prosperity. To ensure the revitalization of downtown, investments must be made in public transport to support a self-sustaining community and the kind of densities that bring a city to life.

Life Between Buildings

While the streetcar stops might be focused around destination spaces, (Findlay

Market, Music Hall, Fountain Square, Riverfront Stadiums, etc) the Portland precedent and the feasibility studies show that all spaces along the streetcar line improve in investment and activation. The space between the stops therefore ought to be addressed on the scale of the walking pedestrian as he or she approaches the destination or streetcar stop.

Jan Gehl‟s research and projects particularly address the importance of these more mundane encounters with the public realm. Gehl states,

“This is not a book about „special occasions‟– major events, festivals, street markets, carnivals, and block parties. Nor is it a book that concentrates on main streets and bustling centers. Its focus is, rather, on the ordinary days and the multitude of outdoor spaces that surround us. It is a book about everyday activities and their specific demands on the man-made environment. It is in these daily situations that our cities and city districts must function and provide enjoyment.” 21 (Gehl 9)

21 Jan Gehl, Life between Buildings (Copenhagen: Arkitektens Forlag, 1996.), 9.

pg. 17

Gehl‟s research focuses on the affects of the built environment on the activation of public space. His research provides evidence suggesting building structures and other elements that invite pedestrian activity have an effect of encouraging further pedestrian activity and even a perceived extension of owned space.

“The establishment of a social structure and corresponding physical structure with communal spaces at various levels permits movement from small groups and spaces toward larger ones and from the more private to the gradually more public spaces, giving a greater feeling of security and stronger sense of belonging to the areas outside the private residence. The area that the individual perceives as belonging to the dwelling, the residential environment, can extend well beyond the actual dwelling. This in itself may result in greater use of public spaces.” 22 (Gehl 61)

He refers to this process of activating public space as a self-reinforcing process.

Gehl explains how the acceptance of functionalist principles led to the limited conception of streets as automobile circulation space. He gives examples of entire cities that have been built and transformed by this operating principle, with Los Angeles as the most recognizable archetype of this type of development.

Also part of the dismantling of social life on the street is the segregation of uses into different zones spread out across the city. This division of uses creates a dependency on the car to arrive at the disparate destinations and creates a scenario where these districts get emptied out when one type of activity begins and ends. Gehl opposes use-based zoning and often supports form-based code initiatives. Gehl explains,

“At the large scale - in city planning – there is an effective dispersal of people and events when residences, public services, industries, and trade functions are placed separately on large individual tracts of land in a functionally segregated city structure that is dependent on the automobile as the means of transportation between units.

22 Jan Gehl, Life between Buildings (Copenhagen: Arkitektens Forlag, 1996.), 61.

pg. 18

Dispersal of events and people is a phenomenon common to nearly all suburban areas worldwide, and in the sprawling city of Los Angeles it attains its most consistent and disturbing form.” 23 (Gehl 87) To contrast the impersonal

overscaled development that has occur

as a result of the auto‟s takeover of

downtowns, he lays out a few operating

principles that foster an extension of

private activities into the public realm:

-Being able to see what is going on in

public spaces invites the viewer to

participate for further social interaction.

This scenario is most easily

accommodated where housing units face

public squares or where buildings face

streets that accommodate pedestrian

activity.

-Cities that support outdoor activity have

irregular facades and a good variety of

outdoor conditions. He shows examples

of benches in the street, outdoor cafes,

courtyards created by the adjacency and

23 Jan Gehl, Life between Buildings (Copenhagen: Arkitektens Forlag, 1996.), 87.

pg. 19

form of buildings, canopies, street fairs with tents, and many others.

- Megastructures that often cover entire blocks deaden street life because they typically

lack pedestrian scale and accommodation as well as because of the monoculture of

activity that occurs inside. Anyone that does not work Figure 1 or live in the building is less likely to feel comfortable

hanging outside.

-Traffic calming measures as well as the exclusion of auto traffic fosters pedestrian

activity by creating a more safe and inviting street. He states, “When all traffic is slow,

there is life in the streets for this reason alone, in contrast to what is found in automobile

cities, where the speed of movement automatically reduces the activity level. 24

- Buildings should be low and detailed to the scale of the human at 3 mph. His surveys

demonstrate that people do not remember details of building facades viewed in their

entirety from across the street. What is remembered is the details at the level of the

storefronts and interaction of the pedestrian to the stores, and businesses. He states

that as a result of human biological history human vision has developed a certain range

Figure 2

24 Jan Gehl, Life between Buildings (Copenhagen: Arkitektens Forlag, 1996.), 79. pg. 20 in response to danger. This range is describes as almost 90 degrees laterally, 50 degrees above eye level and 75 below. In urban environments it is difficult to take in views of whole buildings because of the distance required to bring the whole building into view.

- Routes should be broken up into shorter spans so long walks are broken up into seemingly more manageable distances.

-He also explains that the graduation from the individual appreciating the outdoors, to smaller groups, to larger groups, marks an extension of perceived private space or sense of

belonging.

Gehl explains,

“Life between buildings is potentially a self-reinforcing process. When someone begins to do something, there is a clear tendency for others to join in, either to participate themselves or to experience what the others are doing. In this manner individuals and events can influence and stimulate one another. Once this process has begun, the total activity is nearly always greater and more complex than the sum of the originally involved component activities. If there are many people, or if something is going on, more people and more events tend to join in, and the activities grow both in scope and duration.” 25 (Gehl 75)

25 Jan Gehl, Life between Buildings (Copenhagen: Arkitektens Forlag, 1996.), 75. pg. 21

This is a key principle for Gehl which helps to understand and frame his suggestions for improvements at all scales.

In Gehl‟s later book, New City Spaces, he describes more strategies for the development at the scale of a city – architectural unity, improved pedestrian traffic, create more recreational opportunities, and improve traffic conditions generally.

In Barcelona the goal was to renovate specific points of interest to create attractive oases in the cityscape. On the whole, public spaces were created by pulling down dilapidated apartment buildings or abandoned factories, and only to a small extent by limiting the area already devoted to motorized traffic. A number of squares in the city were renovated in conjunction with underground parking areas, but this was not characteristic of the policy. An urban design office was formed to enlist architects to design public spaces throughout the city. 26 (Gehl 26)

In the city of Lyon there was a greater need to deal with city center as well as its periphery. Problems consisted in part of strongly increased traffic in the city center up through the 70‟s and 80‟s, deteriorating public space as well as massive physical and social problems in the extensive housing areas of the suburbs from the 1960‟s and

1970‟s. City council wanted to re-establish the trust in local rule for all citizens, so projects were balanced between work on the inner city and work in the suburbs. The policy has been a clear signal to inhabitants that everyone is equal and that no one gives greater priority to the city center at the expense of the needy residential areas of the suburbs. 27 (Gehl 34)

26 Jan Gehl, New City Spaces. (The Danish Architectural Press, 2000.) 26 27 Jan Gehl, New City Spaces. (The Danish Architectural Press, 2000.) 34 pg. 22

Gehl also chose Portland as a precedent to include in his studies and highlighted in particular the city‟s detailed design guidelines for a public space. The key tenants of

Portland‟s public space policy are formulated in its Central City Plan Fundamental

Design Guidelines 1990”, what is a remarkable set of quality criteria for the design of the city‟s spaces. The first category of identity gives eight guidelines for preserving the city‟s overall features. The city‟s street grid dimensions are unique to the city and are much smaller than most American downtowns. Larger sidewalks and programming that allows contact between indoors and outdoors also contribute to an active urban stage and a mix of uses. In the category “priority for pedestrians” details are laid out about pedestrian traffic and access to sunlight, and zones for greenery, shopping, and sidewalk cafes. The last category deals with project design and how buildings interact with public space. Buildings must interact with the public space if facing a park, or they may be required to have storefronts on the ground level. 28 (Gehl 60)

His home town of Copenhagen might be the most documented and used as an example most in through his writings. He and his research group documented the evolution of Copenhagen‟s pedestrian spaces. They clearly demonstrate how the city has made people friendly spaces a priority over time. Since 1962 the area of public spaces has expanded from 15,000 sq meters to nearly 100,000. Beginning as one street, the area of public space has transformed into a network of streets that make it possible to navigate most the city by foot without the intrusion of the automobile. The exclusion of automobile traffic from Race St. and the creation of a more pedestrian friendly streetscape isn‟t considered a panacea to the abandonment of Over-the-Rhine.

The intervention on Race St. can be considered somewhere along the evolutionary

28 Jan Gehl, New City Spaces. (The Danish Architectural Press, 2000.) 60 pg. 23 stage of Cincinnati towards a city of collective amenity and away from the standard of accommodating car based development. With the introduction of the streetcar line the potential for drastic changes to the pedestrian landscape increases considerably. 29

(Gehl 52)

In the city of

Strasburg, France, on with border with Germany, traffic was making the medieval streets uninhabitable and it was damaging valuable buildings. The city utilized a combined strategy for public space and public transport.

A linear public space policy in which trams pave the way brought vitality back to the city. Streets on the tram line downtown were shut off to car traffic and they were renovated from façade to façade. Park and ride stops have allowed the removal of 1000 parking spaces from downtown in addition to the decrease in traffic.

29 Jan Gehl, New City Spaces. (The Danish Architectural Press, 2000.) 52

Figure 3 pg. 24

Creating public spaces around the stops and tram lines similarly suggests the importance of site and the relationship to the rest of the city. Because the tram line is a grade, the strategy to create different mobility zones for downtown Strasbourg was to exclude cars from sections of streets and to create pedestrian priority street spaces for the remainder. In the suburbs the trams share the streets with cars. In the pedestrian priority areas, the speed of cars is kept to a minimum and there are very few parking opportunities. They created several park and ride stops outside of the city, the cost of which covers unlimited tram rides for the day.

The restrictions on the car and the scheduled passing of the tram allow pedestrians to take over the street without fear of being hit. A passing car on a street needs the same amount of space but because it is not on a fixed route walkers are pushed aside. 30 (Gehl 40)

A repopulation of Over-the-Rhine can be thought of as a gradual process beginning with the public transportation project of the streetcar. Entire blocks of Race and Elm St. already have many of the qualities that Gehl proposes for cities to employ for creating pedestrian friendly environments. The storefronts and narrow Italianate buildings provide the kind of visual detail and delineation that make for a vibrant and diverse streetscape. While there are similar characteristics among the buildings there is not a complete plan for coherence of visual elements to tie the neighborhood together and the streetscapes lack many opportunities for seating.

Of all the examples that Gehl promotes as exemplar public engagement strategies the Strasburg precedent has particular poignancy for the future development of OTR. Here the tram or streetcar line was used to designate not a pedestrian only

30 Jan Gehl, New City Spaces. (The Danish Architectural Press, 2000.) 40 pg. 25 street, but a pedestrian priority street in which cars navigate at a slowed pace. This strategy was combined with a series of public minded spaces that can be thought of as a “string of pearls.” Areas spread out along the path of the rail line that attract users from the tram stops as well as serving the purpose of delineating what might be perceived as extensively long walking routes.

Architecture of Collective Amenity

A collective of buildings provide opportunities for delineating the space of urban environments for the purposes of activation. The clustering of buildings, the organization of city blocks, and the way people pass through these blocks also have a variety of effects on the public life of the street and the way people understand space.

The next headings break down the writing of several author‟s descriptions of these spaces.

Purposeful Mobility

In his book Image of the City Kevin Lynch explains, “The environmental image has its original function in permitting purposeful mobility.” He suggests that design elements be carried out along paths of motion to give a sense of continuity and unification. This type of intervention supports a hierarchical system in which the city can be better understood both emotively as well as for the purposes of navigation. Car based development discourages the kind of “imageability” that Lynch promotes. Lynch explains,

pg. 26

“Purposeful movement is accomplished only by an elaborate memorization of sequences of distinctive detail, so closely spaced that the next detail is always within close range of the previous landmark. Wayfinding is the original function of the environmental image, and the basis on which emotional associations may have been founded. In the process of wayfinding, the strategic link is the environmental image, the generalized mental picture of the physical world that is held by an individual. This is the product of both immediate sensation and the memory of past experience, and it is used to interpret and to guide action. This leads to what might be called imageability: that quality in a physical object which gives a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer. (Lynch, 125)31

The abstraction of space caused by the isolation of car travel encourages insular buildings. Each business or other establishment vies for attention with signs and lights in the middle of a parking lot. There is no desire for a sense of community as each business is competing to distinguish itself from others and from the monotony of the road.

Over the Rhine sets itself in contrast to the results of car based development although this mindset continually places these buildings in risk of demolition. Much of the historic district still has nearly complete streetscapes although a lot of the buildings are currently not much more than inhabitable masonry shells. However, the similar cornice lines, window patterning, and storefronts create the kind of unified character of buildings that serve the purposeful mobility that Lynch supports.

According to Lynch unified streetscapes along paths enhance association and memory of a place. The placement of the streetcar route and its infrastructure would reinforce this notion of the built environment aiding navigation. The fixed public transit infrastructure of the modern streetcar line creates development that dissipates outward from the linear path of the route. The rail lines can be used as a datum line for understanding location relative to these north-south paths.

31 Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City, M.I.T. Press, 1970. 125

pg. 27

He explains that for the purposes of “wayfinding” humans memorize sequences of details of both physical attributes and emotions attached to a place. The more cohesive the unification of architectural elements the more memorable the place will become. Lynch states, “As an artificial world, the city should be so in the best sense: made by art, shaped for human purposes.” Each of the buildings can be

Figure 4 pg. 28 thought of as a composition of an artisan builder of a bygone era. The symmetry, the balanced ratio and placement of window space to wall space, and the cornices that frame the building and storefronts all speak to this sentiment of Lynch‟s. 32 (Lynch 95)

Figure 5

Townscape

32 Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City, M.I.T. Press, 1970. 95

pg. 29

In Cullen‟s book Townscape, it appears his approach of utilizing existing buildings is similar to Lynch‟s in terms of imageability, but he is not concerned with navigation. But closer to the goals of Gehl, he is promoting the coordination of buildings for the purposes of activation. Cullen explains that the reason why people gather in cities is the collective amenity made possible by the gathering of people. He proposes that a parallel argument be made for buildings: collectively buildings can give a visual pleasure that none could give separately. He proclaims that buildings, when massed together, are an art form apart from architecture. He describes several things that single buildings have no ability to do on their own: walk through or past, unexpected buildings appear around corners, or go inside a group of buildings. The aim of the townscape proposal is to manipulate the categories he describes to make an impact on the emotions of the city dweller: the aim is not to determine the shape of a town or environment. His proposal is not concerned with scientific or commercial developments of a city. 33 (Cullen 9)

The three categories of the townscape are motion, position, and content: all relate to an experiential understanding of the city. His motion category is understood in terms of an existing view and its relationship to an emerging view. The existing view utilizes the effects of the other two categories in order to create its own mood. The emerging view describes an anticipatory mood created as the existing view merges with the following existing view. The city is revealed in a procession of visual imprints concealed then exposed. His category of place is defined as the effects of buildings that activate spaces for the inhabitant. Generally, the limits of a building‟s or a set of

33 Gorden Cullen, Townscape. (New York, 1961) 9

pg. 30 building‟s effect on a person marks the boundaries of a “place.” Shade, shelter, amenity, and convenience are effects that enhance an environment‟s sense of place by allowing a sense of “possession” or belonging. The content of towns is described as,

“an examination of the fabric of towns: color, texture, scale, style, character, personality, and uniqueness” are all categories that can enliven the content of a city. The more textured the fabric of the town is the more the outdoor environment is activated and occupied.

His reasoning for developing his theory was that towns generally have an existing urban fabric or dynamic and his system is a means of developing the preexisting elements and to make them more accommodating for human interaction.

His categories of motion, place, and content are attempts to make the experience of the city more exciting, more comforting, and create an environment more amenable to social interaction. 34 (Cullen 12)

Site Selection

Over-the-Rhine presented itself as an excellent location for a transportation/ public works project because of its location along the proposed streetcar line, and for its unique potential for creating pedestrian -friendly environments. OTR is one of the largest historic building districts in the country. These buildings provide an opportunity for storefronts that activate the public space of the street and for details scaled to the pedestrian experience. The unified character of the buildings provides opportunities to

34 34 Gorden Cullen, Townscape. (New York, 1961)12

pg. 31

address mobility in ways not possible in the Cincinnati‟s central business district or the

suburbs.

Site History and the Over-the-Rhine Master Plan

The Over-the-Rhine Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic

places in 1983 and should be preserved and utilized before the buildings weather and

fall farther into disrepair. The district also provides a rich architectural context to

support the introduction of new construction. Portland‟s Pearl District was an industrial

area that had fallen into a state of disrepair. This area was completely transformed into

a vibrant mix-use environment with the introduction of the streetcar line.

Figure 6 pg. 32

A group of community activists and businesses with vested interests in downtown its relationship to OTR got together to make a plan for the revitalization of the community. They came up with a master plan which encompassed plans for housing, transportation, economic development, and quality of life. In this thesis the plans were used to help understand the issues of Over-the-Rhine, and then several of the plans

Figure 7 were adapted to encompass development that may occur with the introduction of the streetcar and to advance the creation of more pedestrian friendly environments.

Part of the OTR master plan is to concentrate zones of commercial activity, as opposed to isolated stores, so shopping areas are clear and convenient for visitors.

Mix-use residencies and a variety of densities, single family to multi-unit condos, are pg. 33

Figure 8 planned to encourage activity and diversity. The residential zones get less and less

dense emanating from the Retail/Mix-use zone, to Residential/Commercial, to

Residential Medium Density. A region north of Findlay market is designated for Mix-

use/ Loft Space utilizing older industrial buildings. Housing goals are: to protect and

preserve the historical, architectural and cultural heritage of OTR; to increase

homeownership across a range of housing markets; to encourage new investment.

If these plans were to reflect the streetcar intervention part of the focus would

shift over to Elm and Race. The highest activity mixed-use options might emanate out

ward from the street car stops and the spaces between the stops along the route.

pg. 34

The city hired the large A/E/C company HDR to complete a feasibility study of a streetcar project for Cincinnati. Several of the pages in the study support this idea of development extending from the route as a gradient of development. Despite the precedents of development along streetcar lines development should be mindful to create a different type of programming along the OTR portions of the route to create a unique market that does not compete with Vine or Main St.

A further distinction related to the mix-use programming along a streetcar line should be the awareness of the temporal issues that may create opportunities for a different type of programming. Storefronts near the stops could be programmed that riders could quickly check out the wares of a store or café while waiting for the next train to pull in. A scenario where blank vendor space could shift through any number of entrepreneurs could sell goods may add excitement by making each experience of the stop unique. This strategy might help make a highly active retail/vendor space available to community members. The organization of the time-based programming would follow a similar pattern in that the shops requiring the least amount of time would be closest to the streetcar stop and the stores or restaurants requiring the longest amount of time would be placed at the midpoints between the stops.

pg. 35

Figure 9 pg. 36

The transportation strategies portion of the master plan notes improvements for bus

Figure 10 pg. 37

transportation as well as cross-walk improvements and a gathering place. The two

locations of Vine and Mcmicken, and Vine and Liberty are perhaps identified because of

their critical locations regarding proximity to Findlay Market and the commercial corridor

of Vine St. However, given the ideological framing of this thesis it seems that these two

Figure 11

points are extremely challenging nodes to choose for redevelopment because their

importance relies on car traffic. Both points mark the intersection of highly trafficked

streets – one where car traffic bombards the pedestrian from “five points” and one at the

intersection of major north-south and east-west streets. The attention brought to these

pg. 38 two locations by car traffic is the reason why these areas are extremely difficult to transform into pedestrian friendly spaces.

“Five Points” might have tremendous potential as it could mark a node that connects the second phase of the streetcar up to Clifton. However, this would require a major adjustment to traffic on these streets and the streetcar route, including the

Figure 12 possibility of closing down streets, or even a change in elevation of one of the routes.

pg. 39

Furthermore, the plans note all current parking lots as well as all empty lots that could potentially be pocket parks. The master plan illustrates strategies for these pocket parking lots and larger parking structures with the goal of hiding them from view.

This thesis posits that regardless of the effectiveness of concealing the parked cars, an emphasis on car based development is an emphasis on an escape from the city.

Instead, emphasis should be placed on sites and strategies that avoid the problems of car traffic make the architectural character of the neighborhood more clear and distinct, and to make public transit part of the identity and collective amenity of the city.

Figure 13

pg. 40

The master plan highlights the use of greenways to improve street conditions for pedestrians. The plans show differing schemes for greenways but this plan shows a strong connection to Washington Park and the greenways along Elm and Race would help to reinforce the importance and connection of the streetcar line to Findlay and the

Figure 14 Music Hall district. Greenways are appropriate only if they are given a proper amount of space. The traditional planters seen downtown are not enough space. All too often a tree is either healthy and crumbling the surrounding sidewalk, or it is unhealthy and more depressing than if the entire street were asphalt. Another

pg. 41 problem with planters is that electric lines dominate the growth of branches.

Greenways can be used in combination with traffic calming mechanisms to create more humane pedestrian spaces.

Several maps in the master plan also call for the use of gateways to mark the entrance of the neighborhood. It should be the architectural heritage and pedestrian scaled interventions that make OTR clearly distinct from the Central

Business District and other neighborhoods, and not gateways announcing the boundaries of OTR to car traffic . 35(Over the Rhine Comprehensive Plan).

35 Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan, “Transportation”, http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3652-/ pg. 42

FigureFigure 156 Site Conditions

There are a variety of street conditions around the streetcar stops in the Music

Hall District. They can be understood as a gradient or a hierarchy ranging in amounts

of traffic that travel the streets on a daily basis. This hierarchy can also be understood

as a gradient of least to most pedestrian friendly spaces. Liberty St. on the north end of

the site is a main east to west thoroughfare and functions as a pedestrian border

preventing street activity from flowing continuously along Race St. to the north or to the

south. Central Parkway operates similarly on the west and south side of the site.

Within these borders Cincinnati‟s downtown grid is defined by north-south streets from

pg. 43

Race to Plum, and the mostly numbered east-west streets. The blocks created by these streets are further broken down into smaller roads and alleys.

Patterns of varying path conditions can create rhythms that delineate movement through space. Also, this hierarchy of streets sets up a potentially dynamic set of relationships between a variety of pedestrian minded spaces. The varying widths of streets and distances between them creates an opportunity to make distinct strategies for making pedestrian friendly spaces. Race St. with four lanes dedicated to car traffic would have a canyon like effect if the streetscape we‟re completely filled with buildings.

Its fairly large width could be made more pedestrian friendly with the introduction of the streetcar and making clear zones for different types of mobility and recreation. Pleasant

St. running parallel to Race a short block to the west doesn‟t have the space for that kind of breakdown across its width. It does, however, have potential for a more intimate setting and opportunities to extend the market space of Findley from the north and the green space of Washington Park from the south.

pg. 44

Figure 16 There are a wide variety of strategies that utilize the city block to create pedestrian spaces ranging from least to most intensive. The buildings of OTR have particular potential because of their small size in relation to the block and because nearly all the buildings address the street. The open spaces of demolished buildings

pg. 45 also present interesting challenges and opportunities.

Figure 17 Collectively, buildings create a variety of opportunities for characterizing a space that a single building has no potential to do. When considering the entirety of a street, the completion or sparsity of streetscapes can have different effects on pedestrian, car, and rail traffic.

- Missing buildings create a disruption or break in the streetscape and take away from both the sense of an outdoor room of a continuous corridor and the sense of a characterized neighborhood or district.

pg. 46

- Oppositely, a series of blocks that have no empty lots provides a framework that implies a space. The relative similarity in scale and materiality of buildings along a complete streetscape adds to the effect of this “outdoor room.”

- Closing off a street to automobile traffic on a street with a completed streetscape creates an environment similar to a courtyard. Buildings surround leisurely activity and provide a visual framework for whatever activities may occur within the space.

- A galleria or arcade functions in a similar way as what might be called an elongated courtyard but provides a complete enclosure of the space and protection from inclement weather conditions.

- On block where buildings‟ fronts meet the sidewalk, the degree to which the backs of buildings extend shapes the condition of an interior space. If the buildings extend uniformly the space is shaped into a very clear courtyard. If the buildings extend far enough that they encroach upon each other‟s space, then the remainder functions only as a light-well. Any mix of the two is possible given a variety of property lines and the extent to which the lot owners choose to fill with building.

- The larger the structure the more potential a building has to control any number of these conditions. Gehl recommends against using such a strategy because his research shows that it is more difficult to design to engage the pedestrian at such a scale. Larger block size buildings, or Megastructures, tend to limit the diversity of programming, which also limits the diversity of the types of people that may feel comfortable engaging in leisurely activity inside and outside of the building.

pg. 47

Project

The Over-the-Rhine master plan was utilized to determine appropriate programming for any type of intervention. The “programming” of the master plan consists of mix-use buildings with a few exceptions for schools, Music Hall, parks, and a few other areas. However, this thesis does not go further into traditional rezoning or segregation of uses. This thesis also does not focus on a New Urbanism approach to planning to meet the needs of a self-sustaining community. This thesis explores the implications of introducing the modern streetcar, and the creation of pedestrian friendly spaces as a method to begin reactivating the neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine. The focus of this thesis is the programming of the city as it relates to mobility. Some of the proposals closely resemble form-based code, but more accurately, the projects would result from debate and suggestions from community meetings. Form-based code could resemble some of the more prescriptive solutions utilized by the Portland precedent but should rely as on community and site studies on a case by case basis. Prescriptions for storefronts and mix-use buildings, parking requirements, sidewalk widths, space for tree plantings, lighting, and streetcar infrastructure can be gleaned from the explorations.

The public space of the street, its activation and imageability, and the interface between interior and exterior space are the focus of this thesis. Three stops from the

HDR streetcar feasibility study will be utilized to design interventions that attend to the principles of the theorists in accordance with the partially revised Over-the-Rhine master plan maps.

The first phase of the streetcar route has the most clearly described stops and the most clearly described functionality as compared to other streetcar route extensions

pg. 48

or the high speed rail route and

stops. The portion of the route that

runs through Over-the- Rhine has

10 stops. The three stops to be

explored are within what might be

called the Music Hall District. Two

of the stops are on Race St where

the streetcar runs one-way

southward, and one stop on Elm St.

where the streetcar runs one-way

north. Two of the sites are

intermediate stops between Findlay

Market and Music Hall. The third

site is on Race St across from

Music Hall and Washington Park.

Race St. between Liberty

and Central Parkway is to become

a pedestrian priority street to

Figure 18 encourage activity on the street and to protect walkers from the speed, and pollution of

car traffic. The sidewalk will be extended from both sides of the street to allow only 2

lanes of traffic. This allows room along the buildings for recreation space, a clear zone

pg. 49 for trees or “greenways”, a zone for pedestrian traffic and a zone closest to the street for infrastructure.

The "greenbelts" described in the master plan can be utilized for imageability when placed at a regular interval and are given their own allocated space. When trees share a space along the sidewalk with infrastructure their canopies are likely to be disrupted by power lines. When the full canopy of the tree is cut into they look unhealthy and depressed and detract from the visual clarity and general aesthetics of the street. Furthermore, the roots often damage Rather than filling in the empty lots along Race St. with buildings, the tree canopies can provide

pg. 50

a continuous visual element along the street to characterize the space.

Figure 19

pg. 51

Figure 20

pg. 52

The only breaks in the rhythm of trees should be for the streetcar stops to allow easier view of passengers that need to be picked. up.

The most important "imageable" element of the design is to connect the fixed transportation to the image of the city. One of the stops explores the idea of integrating the stop structure into the building. This is done by integrating some of the elements of

OTR's Italianate building elements into a structure built with modern layered construction rather than trying to imitate the monolithic triple or sometimes four wythe thick brick walls and their stone lintels. The building will be of similar height to its surroundings, 3 or 4 stories high. The top of the building will have a significant cornice line to terminate the top end of the composition and the proportions of window to wall, as well as the rhythm of the window patterning should be matched. The storefront level will rotate out and become the roof structure of streetcar stop. The canopy will be held up by cables attached to the building. The canopy structures will copy this structure as well. This method is used to free up ground space from the for recreation and pedestrian walking space. This is also done as a further contextual response to match the construction technique used at Washington Park by Michael Schuster Associates.

Figure 21 and 22

pg. 53

Figure 23

pg. 54

Figure 24

The storefront will be broken up to create seating and further visual interest.

The stop at Music Hall will be placed directly across from the center of the building's main facade. A path will lead from the stop directly across to the building.

This structure will also follow the precedent of Michael Schuster but an earlier version is shown here. The natural elements of the extended park are meant to accentuate existing elements of the site. Tall bushes are used on the outsides of the park so that views from the green spaces will have a double framed effect of the natural elements and the building cornices. pg. 55

The stop on Elm St. will have the same structure as the Music Hall stop on Race, but because it has an existing building behind it instead of a park, a few of the components will be altered. At the Music Hall site the glass infill portions of the structure will open up from the back of the structure to allow people in from the park and to allow views of the park. The bench will also be altered to face both the activity of the street and activity that may occur in the park.

The interior of the stop attached to a new building on Race St. has four different programmatic elements. On the first floor of the building an open plan is divided into three different vendor spaces. The largest is a market for local and sustainably farmed goods. The other two spaces are a shop for locally made crafts, and a cafe for primarily caffeinated beverages and local pastries and baked goods. The upper floors will be residential units.

All of the elements of the project are meant to positively activate the downtown neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine. The stops are meant to serve as focal points to serve the community and as models for further activation in the segments of the route between the stops. The structures and the streetscape interventions are meant to provide visual clarity and thereby aid in memory association and navigation according to the principles of Kevin Lynch. With the investment that is projected to follow the implementation of the streetcar, the hope is that an activated streetscape and building fronts will make the neighborhood more lively and vibrantthan it has ever been in its history.

pg. 56

Figure 25

Figure 26

pg. 57

Figure27

pg. 58

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Wheeler, Stephen, and Timothy Beatley. The Sustainable Urban Development Reader. London ; New York: Routledge, 2004. http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=277 http://www.portlandstreetcar.org/memberslist.php

pg. 59

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100224/NEWS0108/2250301/Mallory-in-DC-asking- for-money http://www.dot.gov/documents/finaltigergrantinfo.pdf http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100217/NEWS01/302170043/No-fed-funds-for- Cincinnati-streetcars

pg. 60