Downtown Cleveland Master Plan
Ross/Fowler was retained by the city of Cleveland, Tennessee to develop a master plan that was implementable and one that responded to the needs and concerns of downtown. Through the use of community forums it became a collective expression of how the community viewed itself and what it would like to become. The masterplan served as an action-based strategic plan that guided the citizens of Cleveland in taking steps to revitalize their downtown by improving their entrances (gateways and portals), enhancing the current downtown (streetscapes and public amenity spaces) and generating new development activity (public and private). A series of design goals were developed to help make downtown Cleveland a more desirable destination by creating a stronger visual and cultural identity by addressing the following issues – strengthen the downtown identity and sense of place, improve wayfinding to downtown, reinforce pedestrian activity, minimize conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians, provide enhanced facilities for festivals, develop a cohesive and unified character which respects the history of Cleveland within a progressive context, target new improvements to strengthen and unify the visual character of the downtown and to create a strong vibrant economic core with easy pedestrian accessibility.
