Friday, April 9th, 2010
12 noon - 7pm
Levin College Forum
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs
Cleveland State University, 1717 Euclid Ave
12-3pm Design Charette
Participants will design and discuss around the topics of connectivity, the built environment, quality of life, programming and economic development.
(brown bag lunch or reserve a $12 box lunch)
3-5pm Video Presentation
A collection of videos pertaining to topic.
5-5:30pm Cocktail Reception
5:30-7pm Public Presentation
Concepts and conclusions developed in the afternoon workshop will be presented.
Participants can attend any or all parts of the event.
The design suggestions/guidelines developed in the afternoon will be presented to the public in the evening, and will later be put together into a document which will be made available online.
Our Partners:
Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, Kent State University
The Levin College Forum, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University
AIA Cleveland
City Club of Cleveland
While there has been no specific site selection, nor architect/designer named for the proposed Cleveland Casino the Cleveland Coalition is using Cleveland's recent turmoil over the Medical Mart location and intent to harness the value of public input in creating presentations regarding many of the issues currently in question regarding the casino. The Cleveland Coalition, partnering with the CUDC, CSU Urban Affairs Program, and other local professionals hope to create an open dialog prior to the solidification of any proposed plans in order to create the greatest and best local impact.
The workgroup/brainstorming session is broken up into 5 groups:
-Connectivity
-Architectural Design
-Programming
-Quality of Life
-Economic Development
In the spirit of full disclosure I will be helping to facilitate the Quality of Life group with Peter Whitt of the Center for Health Equity at the Levin College of Urban Affairs. I was also a peer reviewer for the CUDC's recent graduate urban design students to create their own proposals for the casino which revealed a series of issues that I feel should be at the core of the discussion for the location and design of the casino.
Whether right or wrong, the casino has been approved for construction in downtown Cleveland. The argument of if a casino should be built has become almost moot. It will be up to the private owners and developers working in conjunction with the city. What can be affected by public discussion is the location and what the expectations of the casino are to be.
I had seen quite a few of the CUDC's student proposals call for some sort of public amenity component, either a public park, museum, shopping, etc., many without a clear understanding or suggestion as to how a public amenity will operate in conjunction with a structure such as a casino. Similar to professional sports stadiums casinos primarily operate as a destination location. Operating in singularity they can offer limited interaction to the surrounding community. Visitors will arrive, gamble and leave with minimal causation to venture into the neighborhood. There is only one casino slated to be built so a vibrant strip such as Vegas is not to be expected. Niagara Falls (Canada) has a limited numbers of casinos located in proximity and also does not have a noticeable nightlife (although some fantastic brunches).
Instead a reasonable conclusion would be that a local Cleveland casino would create an insulated gambling enclave. Granted there will be some spillover into local entertainment, shopping, hotel but figures will most likely represent visitors to baseball and basketball events with similar statistics for spending outside of the main destination location (in this case the casino).
With this in mind some important questions should be framed in order to take advantage of a development of this scope occurring in the city.
-How and Why should the casino tie into the surrounding urban fabric?
-How and Why can the casino offer an amenity? What is the public good to come from this project? What are the direct and indirect benefits?
-What design standards can be implemented? What should the design/layout say about Cleveland?
To many a casino denotes a morally bankrupt society. While I don't necessarily share that view (I am actually rather indifferent) I do believe that we should at worst treat the casino project as an accepted evil, one that we should best know and understand in order to hopefully create some positive regional value. I think a great opportunity currently exists if the casino is located downtown. There always exists the argument between which sort of development, residential or commercial, can best reinvigorate downtown. Residential creates the opportunity for people to live and exist downtown, making it more livable and vibrant. However lacking the basic necessities (health, safety, basic needs such as groceries and schools) living downtown remains a questionable option. A casino creates the potential to develop these necessities in correlation to strengthening the local hotel industry with retail, grocery, entertainment, safety and possibly health facilities all in order to make the casino more economically viable.
This is just one of the many possibilities and topics that will be discussed during the public work session. I hope to see quite a few of you there.
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