The Cleveland Urban Design Center is a non-profit, community design practice of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University. The CUDC conducts research, provides technical design assistance to communities, and supports public education and design advocacy programs. The CUDC is located in downtown Cleveland, where it shares space with Kent State’s Graduate Programs in Urban Design, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture.The CUDC is seeking a Senior Urban Designer with broad multi-disciplinary design experience, an interest in urban design education, and a commitment to public involvement in the design process. He or she will be involved in all aspects of the CUDC’s operations, working closely with the director in initiating new programs, advancing the mission and activities of the organization, leading design projects, and developing proposals for research grants and technical service contracts. Depending on interests and qualifications, the Senior Urban Designer may also contribute to design studios and/or seminars of Kent State’s Graduate Programs.Minimum qualifications are: an advanced degree in urban design, architecture, landscape architecture or planning; six (6) or more years of experience in urban design or related practice; excellent design, graphic, and communication skills; knowledge of advanced computer applications; and a record of successful grant writing and fundraising experience. Preferred qualifications include digital fabrication experience; teaching experience; and published project work and/or research.Kent State University is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.For official job description, please see the posting on the Kent State University Employment Site
David van der Leer at the CUDC
David van der Leer, Executive Director of the Van Alen Institute, will give two lectures at Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative
Thursday, October 25 | Reception at 5:30pm featuring Kent State Ashtabula wines from Laurello Vineyards | Lecture at 6pmDavid will talk about the work of the Van Alen Institute. Free and open to the public, but space is limited for this event. Please RSVP by October 11. RSVP LINKFriday, October 26 | Lecture from noon-1pm | Brown bag lunch lecture -- snacks will be providedDavid will discuss how the Van Alen Institute selects and evaluates urban design projects. Free and open to the public, no RSVP is needed.Both events will take place at the CUDC, 1309 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200. Please ring the intercom at the front entrance to be buzzed in.
Kent State University's College of Architecture and Environmental Design and the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative are pleased to welcome David van der Leer for a two day visit, October 25 & 26, 2018. As Executive Director of the Van Alen Institute, David develops projects that explore the nuanced relationship between the built environment and the human being. Under his leadership, Van Alen focuses on the ways our minds and bodies are impacted by the cities we live in, and how we in turn impact the environment.A highlight is Ecologies of Addiction, a multi-year investigation into the ways digital technologies can shed light on the complex relationship between the city and addictive behaviors; it is currently in its first phase in London.
Since arriving at the Institute in 2013, David has created a period of strategic growth with a new programming hub in the Flatiron district, and new models for connections between the Institute’s interdisciplinary design competitions, research, and public programs. In close collaboration with a vibrant new team and board, David is working to bring Van Alen’s work to places around the U.S. and beyond. 
Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Design Competition
Re-City: improving the quality of life in shrinking cities
An international consortium of universities, led by Technische Universitaet Kaiserslautern in Germany, has recently received a $3.3 million euro ($3.9 million dollar) grant from the European Union to explore ways that the quality of life in shrinking cities can be improved, focusing on infrastructure, urban food production, culture, and migration. The CUDC is excited to be part of this consortium, which also includes research teams from Europe, Mexico.In the US, the term “shrinking cities” has negative connotations. Few US cities would refer to themselves this way. But in Europe, the term is quite common and there is a growing body of research aimed at understanding and addressing the challenges of cities that have lost substantial population and now need to manage growing inventories of vacant buildings and land.
Vacancy in Cleveland. 
Vacancy in Ruhr Valley.Professor Dr. Karina Pallagst is the professor at TU Kaiserslautern who is leading this project. In the grant proposal, she noted that the city of Cleveland was once a flourishing metropolis, thanks to its steel and automotive industries. But in the last century, with the opening of world markets and the associated steel and oil crises, decline began: Population has declined significantly and vacant properties are impacting entire neighborhoods. Cities in the Ruhr Area and in eastern Germany, for example, have similar challenges. "This phenomenon of shrinking cities can be found all over the world. Reasons for the ongoing decline are demographic change and economic factors such as job losses and corporate migration," says Professor Pallagst, who has been working on the subject for a long time. "In Japan, for example, the population in almost all cities has already aged. This is why various measures and techniques have been developed in many places," Professor Pallagst continues. For older people, for example, there is a transport service for shopping, but also a "piggyback" service, where seniors are carried to shopping in hilly terrain.In the new research project, teams of 16 universities, research institutions, foundations and companies from Europe, the USA, Mexico and Japan will work together on an interdisciplinary basis to find new ways of maintaining or improving the quality of life in shrinking cities. "We look at these processes from a historical, geographical, planning, engineering, social, and economic point of view," says Dr. Pallagst, who is in charge of the overall management and coordinates the project. "We will compare how different cities deal with these problems."One of the issues is how infrastructure networks can be maintained if population decline population causes reduced tax revenues of the cities. This is a topic of interest to the CUDC, tied to research that Dr. John Hoornbeek from Kent State’s College of Public Health and CUDC Director Terry Schwarz initiated in 2009 on Sustainable Infrastructure for Shrinking Cities.Other topics include the use of alternative energies, the conversion of vacant urban spaces for fruit and vegetable production, and the sustainable design of cities to better protect them against natural disasters. This is closely tied to the CUDC’s work with on vacant land reuse through Re-imagining a More Sustainable Cleveland, and our work in neighborhood-scale climate resilience through the Cleveland Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity Initiative, both led by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.The role culture and migration can play in making shrinking cities more livable is also part of the research project, as is the question of whether and how the social conditions in these cities will change. "The knowledge produced by the RE-CITY project can be incorporated into new interdisciplinary concepts in urban planning," says Pallagst. "Shrinkage can thus also be seen as an opportunity in the years to come."The project also promotes young scientists: 13 PhD students will conduct research in this international network. The project partners will offer intensive training courses to specifically qualify the participants to address the specific concerns of shrinking cities once they graduate and take on roles in public authorities, research institutions or in the private sector.The project starts in October with a kick-off event on the campus of the TU Kaiserslautern.
City of Dreams: Cleveland by Saurav Dhakal
The Cleveland Council on World Affairs partnered with the U.S. Department of State to host a group of four professional Fellows from India, Pakistan, and Nepal through the program “Professional Fellows Program for Governance and Society.” While in Cleveland, the cohort was embedded within various nonprofit organizations and government entities as professional fellows eager to engage in cultural exchange, learn from their hosts, and provide a value-add to their organization or agency. Kent State's CUDC was selected to host Saurav Dhakal, Founder of StoryCycle.com, a Nepal-based social venture. Saurav came to gain insights from the CUDC's Making Our Own Space (MOOS) youth program. Following their stay in Cleveland, the group returned home to complete a “follow-on project” related to their fellowship.The CUDC was honored to work closely with Saurav Dhakal during his stay. This is his Cleveland story...When I landed in Cleveland during the 1st week of May 2018, the weather really surprised me. I had borrowed one warm coat thinking that it would be very cold but I had to buy a new umbrella due to the rain. The city is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie and the wind determines what the weather will be like in the city. I enjoyed my three weeks’ stay in Cleveland—walkable and cycle friendly.
Sunset from Cleveland's North Coast Harbor.I run a social venture, StoryCycle, in Nepal where I tell stories and map the stories of people, places, and products. I travel to promote different parts of the country. I also organize StoryCamps where we train young people on “how to collect stories and promote them on the internet”. 
Tree canopy provides a shaded path along Prospect Avenue from the hotel to the CUDC offices in downtown Cleveland.StoryCycle collaborated with Google in late 2014 and organised Everest Story Camp to conduct a mapping project in the Everest region using 360 degree imagery.While we were traveling to show the Google Maps Project to locals in April 2015, there was a big earthquake and we couldn't move ahead. It took me six days to get back to my family. Everyone suffered due to the earthquake and I suffered, too.After a few months, StoryCycle started a new campaign, “Build Your Own Place,” to support the rebuilding process. It served users with an online platform to understand, train, and participate in the rebuilding process at the earthquake affected areas.It provided the people from the earthquake affected areas a place to put their stories along with the communities’ dreams. Besides, it helped the supporters to pick and support the projects they were interested in. The platform enabled people to meet their prospective investors.
Screenshot of the "Build Your Own Place" page on the www.storycycle.com website.After the earthquake, we had political changes. We ratified a new constitution and a new federal structure. Now all national, provincial, and local level elections have been completed and we have a central government: 7 provincial and 753 local units (Municipality and Rural Municipality). It means we have 753 new cities but we don't have appropriate youth friendly infrastructure and services. So, based on the learning of “Build Your Own Place” we are working on a new campaign/idea “Our Dream City”. The campaign aims to focus on empowering local youth and community institutions to take active part in designing and making their places vibrant by using technology. The campaign focuses on nurturing /attracting and retaining talent, expanding economic opportunities, and creating a robust culture of civic engagement.
Saurav teaches MOOS students at La Villa Hispana how to document environmental features with photographs and GPS coordinates.This working idea led me to Cleveland, Ohio, USA as a part of the Legislative Fellows Program via World Learning and Cleveland Council on World Affairs. I was placed at Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, where I followed one of their interesting programs, Making Our Own Space (MOOS), which "empowers youth with the skills to creatively transform their neighborhood public spaces. Through hands-on outdoor workshops, students design and construct environments and playscapes that are appealing and usable to their community."
Discussing photographs during the Making Our Own Space workshop in Cleveland's La Villa Hispana.I had the chance to participate in a few workshops and work with youth participants of MOOS in Shaker Heights and La Villa Hispana. I liked the idea that young minds are designing and building projects that are really interesting. And the good part of this program is there are stories of youth—they produce a podcast about their life and city—Making Our Own Stories.I also got a chance to revisit my idea and action plan. I am going to develop a crowdsourcing platform to collect stories, data, and map points from different cities. And facilitate/collaborate with different partners to design sustainable, livable, and smart place/cities by organizing Map Up Camps, Dream Camps, Story Camps, and Build Camps. This four series of camps is a mix of learning from MOOS. I have tried to customize it to our context and need.I realize the ideas and thoughts of young people are the same everywhere. They love dreaming and imagination. Youth are dynamic and full of new ideas. We just need to give them space to explore and expand it.Cleveland also gave me more ideas on locally grown food, drinks, and dreams.If you would like to know more about my work, visit our website.Saurav DhakalFounder, StoryCycle
CUDC Wins 2018 EDRA Great Places Award!
On June 9th, the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) awarded the CUDC its 2018 Great Places Award for work on the Cleveland Public Library’s CPL150: Community Vision Plan.From 2014 to 2017, CUDC staff, alongside the Cleveland Public Library, engaged 13 of the City’s 27 branch libraries. Named for the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Cleveland Public Library, the CPL150 Community Vision Plan approached library design from the perspective that every neighborhood is fundamentally different, and will need custom-tailored strategies to meet their needs. CPL150 was the combined strategy for determining these neighborhood-specific needs, identifying opportunities, and building consensus among disparate user groups around what their local libraries can and should become.
Taking cues from the field of Experience Design, the design team envisioned the branch experience in totality: building; grounds; neighborhood; and services. Each of these four experience levels have a significant impact on the overall experience patrons encounter when visiting their local branch. A wide range of engagement tools were developed in order to ensure all community members could find points of entry to suit their comfort level. For each branch the design team held public meetings, open houses, and advisory committee meetings, in addition to targeted focus groups with youth and seniors and a widely distributed multilingual survey. Final recommendations spanned design scales, including ideas for interior reconfiguration, architectural improvements, neighborhood connectivity, and system-wide services. In all, CPL150 engaged over 1500 residents and stakeholders across approximately half of Cleveland’s geography.
The EDRA Great Places Award recognizes interdisciplinary projects that engage the relationship between people and their environment. Four projects are awarded each year; this year CPL150 was awarded in the Planning category. CUDC Associate Director, David Jurca, was on hand to accept the award in Oklahoma City. Thanks to EDRA for the recognition and to the Cleveland Public Library for partnering on the CPL150 plan!For more information on the project, check out the video below, or visit the project website: www.cpl150.org
Jeff Kruth returns from his fellowship in Germany
CUDC Urban Designer, Jeff Kruth, just returned from a fellowship awarded by the American Council on Germany. Jeff spent nearly a month traveling in cities across Germany examining the role of urban development policies since German re-unification. Economic and physical restructuring of the city plays a crucial role in the configuration of contemporary German identity and social practices.
In particular, Jeff looked at peripheral housing estates built during the GDR era. Patterns of demolition and re-investment, privatization of various housing estates, and an influx of new refugee populations make cities like Berlin and Dessau grounds for new social and spatial practices.Similarly, Jeff looked at adaptive reuse projects in the western part of Germany, and in particular in the Ruhr Valley. The Ruhr Valley is similar to the US “Rust Belt,” in that it has undergone tremendous economic and demographic restructuring. Many of the adaptive reuse projects acknowledge the country’s industrial past, while signaling a transition to cultural and immaterial forms of production.
Jeff will further the work developed in Germany through continued transatlantic partnerships and research at the CUDC in the coming year.
Adventures in the Inner-ring
Cleveland’s first-ring suburbs are at a turning point. Many of these communities sprang to life after World War II, in response to growing demand, increased prosperity, and rising birth rates. Life in the suburbs offered privacy, mobility, and choice. On the downside, suburban development also contributed to white flight and segregated housing patterns.The mid-20th century was a time of rapid growth and development in the first-ring suburbs. But now, housing demand has moved inward to Downtown Cleveland and some of the city’s vibrant residential neighborhoods. At the same time, housing demand also continues to move outward, to larger houses in growing suburbs at the edges of the region. First-ring suburbs are literally caught in the middle.The aging housing stock in Cleveland’s inner suburbs doesn’t appeal to home buyers as it once did. Housing values in these communities declined during and after the foreclosure crisis, and median housing sales prices have yet to recover their peak pre-foreclosure value.In 2017, Western Reserve Land Conservancy’s Thriving Communities Program completed a property inventory of five of Cleveland’s first-ring suburbs: Euclid, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, South Euclid, and Warrensville Heights. Every building and parcel in these five communities was evaluated and graded, from A (for excellent) to F (for unsafe or distressed). The CUDC worked with the Land Conservancy to communicate the outcomes of this work and to help provide context for the survey. The results are compiled in Communities at the Crossroads: A Survey of Five First-Ring Suburbs.
The inventory revealed good news—visible blight has been largely eliminated in the suburbs through rehabilitation efforts and demolition. But some concerns remain. The number of vacant houses in first-ring suburbs is increasing. Unlike in some city neighborhoods, where vacant housing often deteriorates and becomes unsafe and unsightly, vacant housing in the suburbs is mostly well-maintained. But long-term vacancies reflect weakness in the real estate market and the potential for future disinvestment and distress.Owner-occupancy in first-ring suburbs is also declining, while the percentage of rental units in some suburban neighborhoods is on the rise. Renters can make suburban neighborhoods more diverse and dynamic. And renters may eventually become homeowners in communities where they feel comfortable and welcome. But a rapid transition from owner-occupancy to tenant-occupancy can have a destabilizing effect on a neighborhood, especially if landlords do not maintain properties to established community standards.
The Survey of Five First-Ring Suburbs provides provides a valuable platform for conversations about the future of first-ring suburbs. The key question is, how can older suburban housing and neighborhoods attract new interest, while continuing to meet the needs of long-time residents who are aging in place?First-ring suburbs have a big advantage when it comes to affordability. In the inner-ring, housing tends to be sturdy, well-maintained, and reasonably priced. However, bank financing for mortgages and home improvements can be surprisingly hard to come by. Banks are often hesitant to finance smaller mortgages and to lend rehab dollars to homeowners with modest incomes. But access to capital is needed for rehab, upgrades, and adaptations to make houses safer and more comfortable for existing residents, Bank financing is also important for mortgages and rehab loans for new homebuyers who want to upgrade and customize housing in the first-ring according to their own preferences. Without new investment, the well maintained housing in these communities may begin to deteriorate.
First-ring suburbs also offer walkable, bikeable neighborhoods and access to nature. The stereotypical view of the suburbs implies homogenous housing and lush green lawns--the so-called crabgrass frontier. But on closer examination, there are a variety of housing types in these communities. And nature abounds in the inner-ring. Garfield Heights and Maple Heights sit at the edge of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Euclid is rediscovering its lakefront. Warrensville Heights rests along Mill Creek. And South Euclid has numerous neighborhood green spaces on vacant lots where houses have been demolished, and a growing portfolio of innovative green infrastructure projects that manage stormwater and a host of ecological benefits.Cleveland’s first-ring suburbs are ripe for rediscovery. City residents looking for a stable and affordable place to raise their families and establish home equity are already settling in these communities. Inner-ring suburbs also serve as a gateway to the “American Dream” for new immigrants. And although Millennial households show a distinct preference for urban living, some will likely opt for suburban living as they get older and have children. Having come of age during the Great Recession, Millennials may appreciate the affordability of housing in first-ring suburbs and reinvent these communities to reflect their values and preferences. Changes in local, regional, and national policies are needed to encourage reinvestment in first-ring suburbs, along with new visions of suburban living that appeal to a larger and more diverse swath of prospective residents.The CUDC is proud to have played a supporting role in Communities at the Crossroads: A Survey of Five First-Ring Suburbs and we’re excited to see these communities plot a new course forward.
We’re Hiring a Part-Time Office Manager
The College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) at Kent State University is seeking applicants for a part-time Administrative Clerk/Office Manager at our downtown Cleveland facility. This position will provide part-time administrative, budget, and clerical support to the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, located in downtown Cleveland. The office manager will maintain all budget documents for projects and the facility; schedule meetings; make sure CUDC is open for business; greet visitors; grant front door entries; assist with student concerns.
Bookkeeping knowledge is required.
Position is Part-Time, 20 hours per week.
Monday through Friday, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm preferred.
Submit all required materials as an on-line application to KSU Human Resources.
To complete the process, go to: https://jobs.kent.edu/ (Position#998191)
Kent State University is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Katherine Darnstadt | Tactical Leverage | May 11
Please join us at the CUDC on May 11, 2018 at 6:00 PM for Katherine Darnstadt's talk, "Tactical Leverage".Katherine Darnstadt is the founder of Latent Design, a progressive architecture and urbanism firm leveraging civic innovation and social impact to design more equitable spaces and systems. Since founding her practice in 2010, Katherine and her firm have prototyped new urban design systems to advance urban agriculture, support small business, created spaces for youth makers, advanced building innovation, and created public space frameworks. She and the firm have been published, exhibited and featured widely, most notably at the International Venice Architecture Biennial, Architizer A+ Awards, Chicago Ideas Week, NPR, American Institute of Architects Young Architects Honor Award winner and Crain’s Chicago 40 Under 40. She currently teaches at Northwestern University and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.AIA CES credits have been applied for, based in the following learning objectives:
- How to regarding innovative small scale development, design and construction
- Real estate risk management and funding
- Community engagement and public policy
- Design detailing
- Practical resiliency strategies
- Urban design systems thinking / Human centered design
- Community engagement and public policy
Come early at 5:30 PM for a reception with light refreshments featuring the work from the graduate students in Kent State University's Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture Programs exhibited in the CUDC gallery. This lecture is co-sponsored with AIA Cleveland. Please RSVP HERE. Katherine Darnstadt"Tactical Leverage"5:30 PM- Reception in the gallery6:00 PM- LectureCleveland Urban Design Collaborative1309 Euclid Ave., Suite 200Cleveland, OH 44115
Call for Papers | Alternatives to the Present | June 5
The CUDC and CAED are excited to host an interdisciplinary conference on the future of urban agendas. The “Alternatives to the Present” conference will take place November 1-2, 2018 in Cleveland. This call for papers seeks a wide array of projects, propositions, and disciplinary critique from the fields of architecture, planning, sociology, urban geography, and allied disciplines. The conference is in collaboration with The Architecture, Media, Politics, Society (AMPS) platform, which is an international nonprofit research organization.Abstracts are due June 5, 2018 and registration opens July 1, 2018. Any questions should be directed to CUDC Senior Urban Designer Jeff Kruth: jkruth@kent.edu
Fireside Chat at the Edgewater Beach House | Mar 1
Winter can be no joke in Cleveland with the cold weather keeping you indoors, but for the hearty, wintertime is the perfect time to get outside! Join the American Planning Association’s Cleveland Chapter and Cleveland Metroparks for a unique outdoor panel discussion on winter activities next to the fireplace at the Edgewater Beach House!The fireside chat will feature Associate Director of Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, David Jurca and artist/educator Donald Black.Thursday, March 1, 20185:30 PMLakefront Reservation7600 Cleveland Memorial Shoreway$10/person (includes chili & hot chocolate)cash bar
Happy 100th Birthday, Detroit-Superior Bridge!
The Detroit-Superior Bridge turns 100 this year. The structure, also known as the Veterans Memorial Bridge, was the largest two-level steel and concrete reinforced bridge in the world when it was completed in 1918.
Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University.Thousands of people drive across the street level of the bridge every day. But just below, the former streetcar level of the bridge remains one of Cleveland’s hidden gems. Streetcar service was discontinued in 1955 and the lower level bridge has been waiting to be discovered ever since. The Cuyahoga County Engineering Department opens the lower level of the bridge for tours periodically, including in September of 2017 for Sparx in the City, which drew record crowds to this beautiful and underutilized space. The Ingenuity Fest has taken place on the lower level of the bridge. And CUDC staff and students have fond memories of our first experiments on the bridge in the Fall of 2009.
In 2012, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) awarded a planning grant to explore the possibility of re-opening the lower level of the bridge as a public space and bike/pedestrian connection.
The CUDC collaborated with Environmental Design Group, Levin Ventures, and a host of other partners to explore design alternatives that would capitalize on the uniquely beautiful attributes of the streetcar-level space.
Credit Jeff Kruth, CUDCIn the same year, the Cleveland Design Competition focused on the streetcar level of the bridge and attracted 200 entries from designers around the world, suggesting visionary ideas for the future reuse of the space.The bridge connects Public Square to Ohio City and could also provide important linkages to Irishtown Bend and Canal Basin Park--two exciting and long-awaited new public spaces along the Cuyahoga River. In celebration of the bridge’s birthday, interest is once again percolating about the streetcar level space. Please watch the Bridge Project Facebook page for updates and announcements of future activities.
Mitch McEwen Lecture |Activism as Research and Research as Activism | Feb 28
V. Mitch McEwen, principal of McEwen Studio and co-founder of A(n) Office, a collaborative of design studios in Detroit and New York City, is giving a talk entitled “Activism as Research and Research as Activism” at the CUDC on Wednesday, February 28 from 12-1 pm. The event is free and open to all.Mitch McEwen’s work has been commissioned by the US Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and the Istanbul Design Biennial. McEwen Studio projects in Detroit have produced a series of operations on houses previously owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority. These include a combined residence and flower incubator for an engineer at 3M, a strategy for 100 houses selected by the City of Detroit to densify the neighborhood of Fitzgerald, and an award-winning repurposing of a balloon-frame house titled House Opera. Her work in urban design and architecture began at Bernard Tschumi Architects and the New York City Department of City Planning, as well as founding the Brooklyn-based non-profit SUPERFRONT.You’re welcome to bring your lunch and we’ll have snacks and sweets for all.If you can’t make it to the noon talk, Professor McEwen will be giving a second talk, entitled, “The Violence of Representation” at6:15 pm on February 28 in the Cene Lecture Hall, College of Architecture and Environmental Design on the Kent State Campus."Activism as Research and Research as Activism"Mitch McEwenWednesday, February 28, 201812:00 — 1:00 pmCUDC, 1309 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200Free and open to the public
Call for Proposals! 2018 Midwest Urban Design Charrette
This fall, the CUDC and our three academic partners – Lawrence Technological University’s College of Architecture and Design in Detroit, MI; the State University of New York at Buffalo in Buffalo, NY; and Ball State University’s Urban Design Center in Indianapolis, IN – will bring graduate students in urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture to a selected community for a 3-4 day intensive design workshop (or charrette). The Midwest Urban Design Charrette has been conducted for seven consecutive years, most recently traveling to Detroit, MI in 2017 and Akron, OH in 2016.
The CUDC is looking for a community partner from a city, suburb, town, or neighborhood in western New York; northwestern Pennsylvania; northern Ohio; northern Indiana; or the lower peninsula of Michigan, facing a unique urban design or planning challenge and in need of fresh ideas and perspectives.This year, the Midwest Urban Design Charrette is specifically seeking communities with issues related to one or more of the following areas of interest:• resilience to the impacts of climate change;• environmental justice;• patterns of migration into or out of a community, either domestically or internationally; and• immigrant communities.If you’d like for your community to be considered for this year’s charrette, please send a brief proposal no later than April 2, 2018 to cudc@kent.edu. Please see our full RFP in .pdf format here for submission details.Thank you for your interest, & we hope to hear from you soon!
Cleveland Housing Issues & Opportunities: A Panel Discussion | Jan 23
The Cleveland Public Library will moderate a panel discussion on Cleveland Housing Issues & Opportunities on Tuesday, January 23rd at 5:00 PM. Community housing leaders from around Cleveland including the CUDC, Thriving Communities, CMHA, Third Federal and Slavic Village Development will discuss local successes in demolishing blighted properties and renovating, reusing, restoring, and rehabilitating older buildings to serve as houses for local residents. The conversation is part of the One Community Reads program focused in 2018 on the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond.CUDC Urban Designer, Kristen Zeiber, will be there to discuss the design/REbuild house and New Life for Old Homes: Design Guide for the Low-Cost Rehab of Vacant & Abandoned Housing. New Life for Old Homes is a guidebook of low-cost, high impact ideas for the rehabilitation of vacant and abandoned houses that would otherwise be demolished.
Cleveland Housing Issues & Opportunities: A Panel DiscussionTuesday, January 23, 20185:00 PMCleveland Public Library - Fleet Branch7224 Broadway Ave, Cleveland, OH 44105
Year of Vital Neighborhoods Kickoff | Jan 26
The CUDC will join the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability as they kick off The Year of Vital Neighborhoods on Friday, January 26 from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM in City Hall Rotunda (601 Lakeside Ave). This event will feature dozens of local leaders working at a neighborhood level to make Cleveland more vibrant and sustainable. Take this opportunity to engage with and learn from these organizations.This event is FREE and open to the public. RTA’s FREE trolley stops right in front of City Hall. Vehicle parking is available at Willard Garage at regular rates (and bike parking is free!). Photo ID is required to enter City Hall.For more information on Sustainable Cleveland 2019, visit: www.SustainableCleveland.o
Friend of the CUDC, Chris Maurer of redhouse studio, mentioned in EARTHER article
For their work with bio-materials, or Bioterials as they call them, redhouse studio and principal architect Christopher Maurer were mentioned in a recent article for EARTHER.com titled The Cities of the Future May be Built of Mushrooms. While maybe not mushrooms per se, redhouse is doing exciting research and projects that use mycelium, the threadlike branching hyphae of fungi (think mushroom roots), to bind together waste organic matter like straw, corn stover, or sawdust. Some commercial manufacturers are already making materials for packaging and textiles (ecovative design and Mycoworks) using mycelium. redhouse looks to incorporate the natural abilities of the bioterials to insulate, provide structure, and resist fire to make whole structures.
Material samples for testing.
Having worked in Africa for number of years in under-served communities redhouse hopes to develop techniques that address food security, water security, and economic opportunity, simultaneously with creating eco-friendly shelter. Mushrooms provide high protein food source with minimal energy and resource input and the waste from growing mushrooms can be used to make shelter and filter water and soil. See redhouse’s BIOSHELTER. They are working with local chef, and fellow fun-guy, Jeremy Umansky of Larder Delicatessen to find palatable outlets of the gourmet mushrooms that are not always prized in the developing world.
Interior of bioshelter.
Their newest project could use your support. In BIOCYCLER, redhouse imagines recycling homes entirely. By grinding up lumber, drywall, and insulation of demolished homes and using it for substrates for bio-binders, redhouse can save material from landfills and create new and green building materials directly on site. See their KICKSTER to learn more.
