What are your favorite placemaking ideas for the Circle East District?
The Cuyahoga Land Bank extends our gratitude to everyone who attended the second community event for the Connect East Cleveland placemaking process. Approximately 50 individuals participated in the open house event held in the newly renovated first floor space in the Mickey’s building. Based on feedback received during the first public event back on April 20th, the design team developed different options for public art, crosswalks, green spaces, and other placemaking elements to share with the community. Attendees had the opportunity to choose—and create!—their favorite design options at their own pace through interactive engagement stations.
Event details:
Friday, July 14, 2023
3:30pm - 6:30pm
Mickey’s building (12550 Euclid Ave)
Set up as an open house format, the event welcomed all members of the East Cleveland community to stop by the Mickey’s building any time between 3:30pm - 6:30pm. The seven engagement stations allowed attendees to share their feedback in different fun and interactive ways. Design team members were available to guide participants through the activities and answer any questions about the placemaking process. We were also excited to partner with CollectivExpress, who provided a DIY button-making station and great music with a live DJ throughout the event.
Upon arrival, attendees were welcomed and given a Connect Card with names of the seven engagement stations. As participants completed activities at each station, they received hole punches in their card. Once an individual had at least five engagement stations completed, they could return their card to the welcome table to be entered in a drawing to win a free Connect East Cleveland tote bag. When participants were done, they were welcome to sit down, relax, and enjoy snacks and refreshments while taking in the open views of Euclid Avenue.
Above: Photo of the Mickey’s building under renovation at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Woodlawn Avenue.
The seven engagement stations offered a range of participation tools to capture feedback through written, verbal, and tactile methods. Our intention was to make people of all learning styles feel comfortable to engage. Even if individuals didn’t participate in the first public meeting, the stations were designed to communicate community feedback received from previous events and get attendees connected to the placemaking process.
STATION 1: WHAT’S HAPPENED ALREADY?
Participants were able to visit the engagement stations in whatever order they preferred. But many attendees chose to begin with Station 1, which included two large boards that displayed feedback from the Community Event 1.0 and the Neighborhood Walking Tour. At this station, community members could learn What’s Already Happened? Ideas gathered from these previous events were used to develop the engagement activities at the Open House. Click on either of the two images below to read the previous Community Engagement Feedback.
STATION 2: WHERE SHOULD IT GO?
Utilizing 3D printed buildings on a scale map of the target area, Station 2 invited participants to mark spots where new placemaking investments should be located. The interactive map helped attendees better understand the relationships between existing buildings and proposed development, such as mixed-use buildings and residential homes. Within this context, attendees wrote their placemaking ideas on miniature flags and pinned them on the board.
All of the comments pinned on the board were entered into an online map, shown below. Please feel free to check out the online map by zooming in on the screen and clicking individual markers to read the community’s comments. The various ideas and locations will be used by the design team to create placemaking proposals shared at the final public meeting.
STATION 3: WHICH DO YOU PREFER?
The third engagement station included two boards with images of six different placemaking opportunities. Participants could select their favorite option by placing a sticker below the image they liked best. A range of images were displayed for a wall mural, greenway, small park, crosswalk, outdoor café furniture, and sidewalk landscaping. The results of the sticker voting are shown below. Interestingly, some options came up in a tie, while others showed clear favorites. Similar questions included in the survey will help provide additional insights on why some examples were preferred over others.
STATION 4: WHAT SHOULD IT LOOK LIKE?
In addition to choosing a preferred option from example images, attendees could also create their own design visuals. With the help of a powerful Artificial Intelligence tool called UrbanistAI, participants could see their words come to life on the screen in real-time. A design team facilitator guided attendees through the process of selecting a photo of an existing location in the neighborhood, then writing text prompts spoken by the attendees. The AI tool used the text prompts to generate unique placemaking visualizations. Attendees could share their thoughts on the image generated and repeat the process until the visuals captured the ideas they had in mind.
Attendees created designs for a public art mural on the Mickey’s building, a greenway on Woodlawn Avenue, development at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Woodlawn, and a pocket park on Forest Hill Avenue. The preferred images selected by attendees are shown below. The images express a range of ideas, but some common threads also seem to emerge. Going beyond words, the images provided a common visual reference to better understand the intentions and aesthetic priorities of community members.
Public Art Mural on the Mickey’s building wall
Greenway between Woodlawn Avenue and Penrose Avenue
Development at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Woodlawn Avenue
Pocket Park along Forest Hill Avenue at the end of Woodlawn Avenue and Penrose Avenue
STATION 5: WHAT’S YOUR VISION?
Every local community member has an important story to share. Station 5 gave attendees an opportunity to share their own vision for the neighborhood’s future. Through video and audio recording, participants could describe what they want to see, feel, and experience in a revitalized community. Example quotes from the longer video recordings are shown below.
“We’ve got to put it back the way it was years ago.”
“I’ve lived here for over 50 years and what’s going on now is quite exciting. I look forward to being here to see it completed.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing the community get back together. I want to see children out here. As long as we can communicate, things will be better.”
STATION 6: WHAT’S ON YOUR BUTTON?
One of the most popular stations encouraged attendees to make their own memento of the engagement experience. In partnership with CollectivExpress, the button-making station provided line drawing images that participants could color and decorate for themselves. Individuals could express their East Cleveland pride with images of a Shaw High School cardinal, I ♥ EC, the Connect East Cleveland logo, or other local iconic visuals. The hands-on experience embodied the intention to include all community members in the placemaking process.
STATION 7: DID YOU TAKE THE SURVEY?
The survey is an important method for collecting not only community member preferences, but also to collect demographic data on participants in the engagement process. For individuals who did not already take the online survey, printed copies of the survey were available along with design team members ready to assist if anyone needed help. Survey questions included options for placemaking investments in the Circle East District and plenty of space for participants to share their own ideas. All of the survey data is still being processed, but a couple example responses are shown below. Tracking the demographic data helps the design team ensure feedback is coming from local residents who reflect the characteristics of the community.
We still have lots of community feedback to process and incorporate into the next round of placemaking design proposals. We’ll share the recommendations at the final community event scheduled for August 30th, 2023. Please make sure you join our mailing list to receive more details on the public meeting.
If you attended the Open House on July 14th, we’d love to get your thoughts on the event. Please take a couple minutes and share your feedback through our short post-event survey by clicking the button below.
Special thanks to T-Fizzle Photography for documenting the event.