Apr 19, 2022 _ news

GBBN at Cincinnati Neighborhood Summit

GBBN’s Stefan Cornelis recently participated in a panel discussion at the Cincinnati Neighborhood Summit. Organized by Invest in Neighborhoods, the Neighborhood Summit provides training and educational material that seeks to empower Cincinnati’s community councils, residents, and community organizations to “contribute to civic life and advance the quality of life in Cincinnati’s neighborhoods.”

The panel was called, “Community Empowerment + Successful Development: Elevating Community Voices to Improve Neighborhoods.” It brought together city policy experts, community advocates, development professionals, and an architect (Stefan) to discuss the many different kinds of roles that residents can play in shaping development outcomes for their neighborhoods.

“One of the most appealing aspects of Cincinnati is our diversity of unique, historic neighborhoods. You can drive around and suddenly find yourself in a new neighborhood with its own walkable business district,” says Stefan. “Empowering residents to shape their collective future involves slow, difficult work, but it’s the best way to ensure that those neighborhoods serve their residents well while retaining their distinct identity.”

“I was fortunate to be joined by people doing excellent work in Cincinnati, including Civitas Development Group’s Darrin Hall, Action Tank’s Ioanna Paraskevopoulos, Kimberly Starbuck (an independent, historic property developer), and Seth Walsh of the College Hill Community Redevelopment Corporation,” Stefan added.

You can view the panel’s slide deck here.

Want to take a deeper dive into questions about community empowerment in the design and development process? Check out Stefan’s article on the topic in ULI’s Urban Land Magazine.

Learn more about Stefan here.