Author Topic: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati  (Read 12834 times)

Metro Jacksonville

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Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« on: June 27, 2012, 03:01:42 AM »
Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati



Metro Jacksonville explores the urban core of the Midwest's Queen City: Cincinnati

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-jun-elements-of-urbanism-cincinnati

I-10east

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2012, 08:17:08 AM »
Good stuff Lake. According to Wiki, the Nati's Duke Energy Convention Center was constructed in 1968, and renovated in 06'.

thelakelander

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2012, 08:37:19 AM »
Thanks, I-10.
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fsujax

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2012, 09:13:53 AM »
nice. What was the housing stock like Downtown? do they have thousands of residents? condo towers, etc? just curious because there seems to be a nice concentration of major retailers Downtown.

Adam W

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2012, 09:19:33 AM »
Aside from the Bengals, WKRP, racism and weird chili, I've not known too much about Cincinatti. From the pictures, it seems to be a pretty nice mid-sized city. In many ways, the pics reminded me a lot of Jacksonville - a more filled-in Jax (perhaps in ways similar to the Jax I moved to in 1979). It also looks a bit like Hartford.

Great stuff!

ben says

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2012, 10:08:58 AM »
Great pics. Been to Cincinnati a few times, mostly on 9-10 hour layovers at the airport where I'd have time to get out and explore during the day. Lots of amenities, big retailers, stuff to do, but it's far from a 'pretty' city. Aesthetically, not my thing at all. Plus terrible weather...oy.
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finehoe

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2012, 10:11:27 AM »
It looks like they may have had their growth spurts around the same time Jacksonville did.  Like Adam W said, a lot of the downtown street scenes reminded me of Jacksonville, albeit a Jacksonville that hadn't torn down most of its architectural heritage.

duvaldude08

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2012, 10:12:28 AM »
I have a very good friend who stays there.... And he hates it. He actually has been trying to move to Jacksonville for quite sometime. He stays outside the city because their crime is extremely bad. Not to mention that the economy is in the toliet up there/ He told me how nice their downtown was and that it fools people from the outside looking in, and thats theres really not much in Cincinatti. But I do want to visit one day though.
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vicupstate

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2012, 10:20:12 AM »
I visted back in 1999 or 2000 or so.  The DT was nice looking but seemed to be mostly corporate offices.  I didn't see much housing stock, but that was still early in the 'move back to the city' national movement.  Overall, it made a positive impression.     
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thelakelander

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2012, 10:40:40 AM »
nice. What was the housing stock like Downtown? do they have thousands of residents? condo towers, etc? just curious because there seems to be a nice concentration of major retailers Downtown.

Cincinnati' urban core is dense in comparison with Jacksonville's.  The amount of demolition that has taken place in the Northbank and surrounding neighborhoods appears to significantly higher than what has taken place in Cincinnati.  The housing stock ranges from in-fill mixed use projects to historic rowhomes and conversions of old hotels and office buildings into apartments and condos.  Also, Over-the-Rhine is literally across the street and the West End is within walking distance as well. 























Imagine if LaVilla and the Cathedral District would not have suffered the amount of demolitions they did during the mid-to-late 20th century.  The majority of the small scale residential projects you see in the images above could have been taking place in and around downtown Jacksonville.
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fsquid

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2012, 10:47:48 AM »
I like that last photo with the corner balconies.

fsujax

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2012, 11:05:30 AM »
Thanks for the housing pics Lake. I am trying to understand why there seems to be so much retail in Downtown Cincy. I guess having Macy's (Federated Dept Stores) HQ helps. Is it residents, tourists, office workers that allow this retail to thrive in their Downtown? It intrigues me.

ben says

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2012, 11:16:51 AM »
I have a very good friend who stays there.... And he hates it. He actually has been trying to move to Jacksonville for quite sometime. He stays outside the city because their crime is extremely bad. Not to mention that the economy is in the toliet up there/ He told me how nice their downtown was and that it fools people from the outside looking in, and thats theres really not much in Cincinatti. But I do want to visit one day though.

That's pretty much what I hear, as well.
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thelakelander

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #13 on: June 27, 2012, 11:18:10 AM »
^As of 2010, they had 7,214 downtown residents and an additional 5,238 in neighborhoods immediately adjacent to the CBD.

http://www.urbancincy.com/2010/05/downtown-cincinnati-experiences-strong-progress-during-recession/

In addition to this, there are 60,000 workers and they have the same cultural and entertainment venues (ex. stadiums, river, convention center, etc.) that we do but those facilities are situated in a more compact setting, creating a critical mass of pedestrian scale activity to stimulate a market that can support additional retail.  So that downtown Macy's is being supported by a mix of office workers, tourist, residents, etc.  Until we can either reconnect our downtown with the surrounding urban population base or build pedestrian scale density and interactivity, we'll struggle to create such a market.

In essence, we aren't that far apart in the amount of amenities offered.  The major difference is they've situated these things in a compact pedestrian scale setting.
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thelakelander

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Re: Elements of Urbanism: Cincinnati
« Reply #14 on: June 27, 2012, 11:25:02 AM »
I have a very good friend who stays there.... And he hates it. He actually has been trying to move to Jacksonville for quite sometime. He stays outside the city because their crime is extremely bad. Not to mention that the economy is in the toliet up there/ He told me how nice their downtown was and that it fools people from the outside looking in, and thats theres really not much in Cincinatti. But I do want to visit one day though.

That's pretty much what I hear, as well.

I've heard the exact opposite, so I guess it depends on the type of environment you're comfortable with and the cultural circles one prefers.  I have a business partner who has lived/worked in Atlanta, Cincinnati and Indianapolis in recent years and the one he can't stand is Indianapolis.  It's not culturally diverse in the urban core areas found in Atlanta and Cincinnati.  According to him, outside of Indy's compact downtown and perhaps Broad Ripple, there's no decent districts like Mount Adams, UC, Clifton, Walnut Hills, etc. (Cincy's versions of Jax's Shops of Avondale, Five Points, San Marco Square, etc.)  He's counting down the days that he can get out of Indiana.
"A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” - Muhammad Ali