Community Design Workshop a Success

October’s Design Workshop, led by the UC Niehoff Center, was a resounding success. On October 12, 2013 over 80 members of the community came together to begin the brainstorming process of what a transformed Wasson Way could look like. Groups were divided into geographic regions, and were led by volunteer design and engineering professionals–with the help of students from the University of Cincinnati landscape and urban design departments. Neighbors huddled together to think through the challenges and possibilities found along each section of the Wasson Way Trail, while the professionals and students posed questions and took notes. The students spent the following week turning the ideas generated at the design workshop into detailed schematics of what the Wasson Way could look like. Plans incorporated current trends in landscape and urban design as well as specific topics studied in their UC curriculum.

The renderings were then presented at a reveal party on October 18, held at Hyde Park Floral & Garden Center, a garden center and coffee shop located alongside the unused tracks in Hyde Park. Our friends at Queen City Bikes offered free bicycle valet services, and Bryan Devendorf of The National supported our efforts as DJ. Over 150 people attended the party where they viewed the students’ posters, asked questions, and shared with one another the excitement of transforming their neighborhoods together.