Community Based Plan for the Revitalization of South of Main
- Discipline
- City and Regional Planning
- Semester
- Spring 2013
- Description
- What a small neighborhood in Columbus, OH once was is no longer, now a neighborhood overrun by crime and vacancy, lacking a true identity and economic development must overcome many obstacles to return to its once historic and beautiful state. As City & Regional Planning students at The Ohio State University we are challenged to create a vision for one of Columbus’ seemingly forgotten neighborhoods; not an easy feat in just 15 weeks. Our client, Mr. Norman Brown, is a community leader and architect, along with being a long time resident of our given neighborhood. Located in Columbus, Ohio just to the west of Capital University, the area is bound by Interstate 70 to the south, East Main Street to the north, Alum Creek Drive to the east and Kimball Place to the west, best known as South of Main Neighborhood. The following report focuses on five major issues we have evaluated to be the most prominent and best able to represent the difficulties in the community. The issues we focused on are: crime, pride and identity, green space, vacancy and economic development. The South of Main is lacking in all of these areas. This crime ridden community has become one lacking a sense of identity. The residents in this community don’t know their neighbors and don’t even know what name to relate to their own neighborhood, which does not follow suit with the rest of Columbus and its neighborhood breakdown. There is no real public green space for children to play and adults to relax; many have resorted to playing in the streets, an obvious issue. Housing vacancy is high in this area which creates opportunity for crime and detours any business from settling in the neighborhood. The process of evaluating each of these areas began with uncovering case studies and reading about other neighborhoods similar to this. Using pertinent background work, we structured reports on each of the above topics and with those we have included plausible suggestions for the area, like using a vacant lot as a pocket park. Along with suggestions, we have uncovered possible grant opportunities to make these suggested plans even more realistic. To show our work, we drafted renderings of our ideas and plans. These renderings can be used to give a true visual aid for our visions and ideas for this neighborhood. In this report, the reader will find both short and long term goals. With our projected goals, we have considered opportunities for grants and adamantly worked to ensure these are goals that are completely possible for this community.