The Over-the-rhine Neighborhood Planning Process: Is a “Community Driven” Planning Process Feasible?

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Smith, April L.
Language:English
Published: University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin990631725
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin9906317252021-08-03T06:16:16Z The Over-the-rhine Neighborhood Planning Process: Is a “Community Driven” Planning Process Feasible? Smith, April L. Urban and Regional Planning Over-The-Rhine community participation citizen participation neighborhood planning This thesis is a case study of the first seven months of the Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood Planning Process, initiated September 2000. Planning process meetings were attended and interviews with principal players were conducted in order to examine citizen participation techniques in practice, and to determine how this process was faring. A literature review establishes the positive and negative aspects of citizen participation techniques, and looks at citizen participation in other neighborhood planning processes. Also, the history of planning for the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood is briefly outlined. The main themes of the process are discussed. The question is asked: “How community driven was this process?” and the answer is found by exploring the roles of the actors involved: citizen participants, the Cincinnati City Planning Department, and consultants. Two other arising themes are discussed: (1) a request by involved residents for a training program and (2) the more proactive role taken by citizen participants as they settled into the process near the end of the study’s observation period. Three major problems plagued the process: (1) The participants were not a unified group capable of coming to a consensus, (2) there was a lack of trust between the residents and the “outsider” Cincinnati City Planning Department staff and consultants, and (3) the process was moving too slowly, making participant burn-out a very real possibility. It is concluded that in the Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood Planning Process, citizens were involved to an ambitious degree. It is furthermore concluded that such a highly participatory process is probably not feasible given the diverse nature of the citizens involved. A push for consensus is too idealistic considering that the participating residents and businesspeople of Over-the-Rhine desire very different things for their neighborhood. In addition, it is doubtful that citizen participants alone would show enough concern for what their neighborhood plan means for the city as a whole. The thesis closes with recommendations for the City Planning Department and citizen participants to help overcome the problems of the process as it continues past the study period. 2001-10-11 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin990631725 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin990631725 restricted--full text not available online This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Urban and Regional Planning
Over-The-Rhine
community participation
citizen participation
neighborhood planning
spellingShingle Urban and Regional Planning
Over-The-Rhine
community participation
citizen participation
neighborhood planning
Smith, April L.
The Over-the-rhine Neighborhood Planning Process: Is a “Community Driven” Planning Process Feasible?
author Smith, April L.
author_facet Smith, April L.
author_sort Smith, April L.
title The Over-the-rhine Neighborhood Planning Process: Is a “Community Driven” Planning Process Feasible?
title_short The Over-the-rhine Neighborhood Planning Process: Is a “Community Driven” Planning Process Feasible?
title_full The Over-the-rhine Neighborhood Planning Process: Is a “Community Driven” Planning Process Feasible?
title_fullStr The Over-the-rhine Neighborhood Planning Process: Is a “Community Driven” Planning Process Feasible?
title_full_unstemmed The Over-the-rhine Neighborhood Planning Process: Is a “Community Driven” Planning Process Feasible?
title_sort over-the-rhine neighborhood planning process: is a “community driven” planning process feasible?
publisher University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
publishDate 2001
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin990631725
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