Connecting Communities and Creating Great Places in Northeast Ohio

Integrating Land Use and Transportation Decisions

7/15/2014

@amatsplanning

Facebook.com/amatsplanning

Jason SegedyDirectorAkron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study

Session Overview

• Northeast Ohio – thoughts on region and place• How transportation helped transform Downtown

Kent• Unlocking the potential of the US 422 corridor in

Youngstown• How AMATS is creating better connected

communities

Northeast Ohio Today• Current Trends– Overall population decline– Overall expansion of developed footprint– Central city vacancy and abandonment– More infrastructure for less people

• The Future of the Status-Quo– Social experiment that won’t end well– Not enough money to deal with abandonment,

routine maintenance, and new infrastructure– Higher taxes, more debt, continued abandonment– Fiscal collapse, civic decay, civil unrest

What is Place?• Places are fundamentally about people, not

things• Places represent values - tradition, identity,

stability, and community• Are these values objective and intrinsically important?• Or are these values subjective and arbitrary?

• Are places nothing more than engines for economic growth?

• Can they simply be discarded as obsolete, like machines, when they are no longer “useful”?

• Or do they have social, emotional, and spiritual significance that we ignore at our peril?

What about People?• Where do they fit into the equation?• Where do they stack up in the benefit/cost

calculations?• Who is measuring the true human cost of

abandoning neighborhoods, communities, and ways of life?

• Is it even possible to understand the social, economic, and spiritual impact of our collective decisions on where and how to build our communities?

How Does Transportation Fit In?• Transportation decisions do not occur in a vacuum

– They have a profound effect on people and places– They are not value-neutral– The value of any given project is based on subjective

assessments, translated into objective criteria• Subjectivity is not a dirty word

– It is an inescapable reality of decision-making– The “objective” manual says those lanes must be 12’

wide because someone made (and codified) a subjective value judgment that wide lanes are better than narrow lanes

– All objective criteria reflect someone’s subjective value judgments about what is important

Transit stop on Flight Memorial Pkwy in front of Wendy’s.

No bench, shelter, or even a concrete pad at this heavily utilized stop.

Montrose - 1970

SR 303 looking west

Montrose - 2010

Where Does the Region Fit In?• Meme #1 – Places are no longer important,

regions are– Economies are based on regional job markets– Advances in transportation & communications have made

places irrelevant• Meme #2 – Places are critical, regions are all the

same– Since you can live anywhere, the “coolest” places will

attract the most “talent”– People, especially young people, are tired of the suburbs

• The Reality – both places and regions are important; it is not a binary, either/or choice

Bringing It All Together• How can we fix our places and knit them together

with their regions to create an effective, politically feasible, governing framework that works for everyone?

• This is the public policy challenge of the 21st Century, especially in the “Rust Belt”

• 3 areas the planning profession must improve:– Leadership– Risk-Taking– Communication

Learning By Doing• We are good at talking (creating plans)• We are not always so good at doing (slacktivism)• Leadership, risk-taking, communication are key• You will hear from a diverse group of people that

are taking intentional action to transform their communities– Not being afraid to start small (the key is starting)– Work on fundamentals– Build trust– Inspire hope– Build authentic relationships

And now, for our session. . .

Jason Segedy Director, AMATS Jsegedy@akronohio.gov

www.amatsplanning.orgwww.switching-gears.org