My only prior trip to Cincinnati was in 2004. The downtown was deserted, particularly the central public space, Fountain Square. The neighborhood north of the downtown, called Over-the-Rhine, is the home of The Cincinnati Music Hall (now under extensive renovation), where the orchestra and opera play, had a terrible reputation and not too many years after my visit was the site of political protests related to racial and economic issues.

But a recent visit showed an incredible transformation. The downtown was lively and busy – including at night and on the weekends. Fountain Square had been redesigned – moving the historic fountain. And while it still has a lot of hard surfaces, it has moveable seating, constant activity, food trucks and really attractive and well-maintained plantings. It was busy all the time, and was surrounded by a lively retail mix.

And Over-the-Rhine has become a dynamic, active neighborhood. Most striking to me was that all of the retail along Vine Street, the main commercial corridor, was local – rather than national chains. The stores were a great mix of interesting food, clothing and other offerings. There was a great deal of development activity – particularly adaptive reuse of architecturally interesting commercial buildings into residential developments. Over-the-Rhine, given its 19^th Century history as a home to European immigrants, has an abundance of high quality, funky revivalist structures (French, Dutch, German, Moorish and who-knows-what).

Washington Park, which on my first visit we were warned off of, has been expanded and revived. On my recent visit the water feature was filled with kids, a private event was taking place in a tent (to which we were generously invited to join in!) and the park was otherwise busy and active. There was a garage constructed under the new section of the park, the entrances to which are unobtrusive and don’t dominate the park perimeters (as at Pershing and Union Squares (SF)). Park structures include a restroom and (only one) food kiosk. The space seemed to be working superbly with both white folks and black folks enjoying the space.

Particular kudos go to the Cincinnati Parks Department, which I was told maintained the horticulture around the city. They do a fabulous job. The plantings are ubiquitous around the downtown and in Over-the-Rhine, they are varied, lush and colorful and they are meticulously maintained – they make a huge difference in softening the city’s edges, particularly in Fountain Square; sending a message that the public spaces are under social control and cared about. The Parks Department does way more than pick up the trash and mow the lawns (which they also appear to do well). The job they do is simply remarkable.

We were told that much of the credit for Cincinnati’s revitalization goes to a private, not-for-profit economic development entity called 3CDC (Cincinnati City Center Development Corporation) that has been the catalyst for much of the positive change in the city. They serve as developer, asset manager (for the two parks, for example) and lender. They have aggressively purchased key sites and shepherded them to positive development – either doing the development themselves or partnering with others. They are clearly doing excellent work.

It was exciting to see a city firing on all cylinders that was so recently troubled and disinvested. There is a lot to be learned here by the arc of older cities from St. Louis to Hartford (including Cleveland and even New York!). We know how to do this kind of work successfully and what the tools are – this is bottom-up, place-centered iterative development.

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