Plan Cincinnati: A Comprehensive Plan for the Future, Cincinnati, Ohio
2014 Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan
Congratulations to our client, The City of Cincinnati Planning and Building Department for leading this award-winning project!
The American Planning Association recently announced that Plan Cincinnati will be one of two recipients of the 2014 David Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan. In honor of America’s most famous planner, Daniel Burnham, the award recognizes a comprehensive plan that advances the art and science of planning.
Plan Cincinnati is the first new plan for the Ohio city in 30 years (Cincinnati’s planning department was reestablished in 2008). The jury stated, “Plan Cincinnati focuses on what makes Cincinnati unique—its urbanity. The plan emphasizes mixed-uses, and defines areas where compact walkable development should be reinforced or established.”
Opticos is proud to have supported this effort. Hired by the City of Cincinnati, Opticos provided a method to bridge the efforts of the Comprehensive Plan with the Form-Based Code process they were working on in parallel with the plan. The end result was a form-based, comprehensive plan approach that defined and prioritized a framework of walkable urban community types. We are excited to have played a role in putting a vision in place to enable the city to achieve their overarching Plan Cincinnati goal of “Thriving Re-Urbanization.”
The city’s steering committee has now shifted to act as an implementation committee. The four focus neighborhoods, College Hill, Madisonville, Walnut Hills, and Westwood, have nearly all succeeded in adopting the new Form-Based Code—the Cincinnati City Council will consider Westwood’s plan to adopt the FBC on Feb. 10.
City leaders said that the goals, strategies, and tasks of the plan are living parts, which will be reviewed and adapted as the city continues to grow. “[Cincinnati] now has a plan for its future based on modernization without suburbanization,” said Charles C. Graves III, Director of City Planning and Buildings, in a press statement. “The plan is an active part of Cincinnati.”
Read more about the American Planning Association’s 2014 award winners here.