Three months after the city asked for submissions from urban design consultants for the next steps of the Akron Innerbelt project study area, the four firms under consideration will make their cases at a public meeting.
Residents are invited to the event to be held Thursday from 5-8:30 p.m. at House Three Thirty at 532 W. Market St. in Akron’s West Hill neighborhood. The event will also be live streamed on Mayor Shammas Malik’s Facebook page.
“In 1970, construction of the Innerbelt began, erasing a vibrant neighborhood and displacing residents and businesses,” Malik said in a press release. “Now, we are working with our community as we determine what the future of the Innerbelt holds. This event is an important one for our residents to hear from the finalists and provide feedback. We’ll use that feedback as our team makes their decision and chooses the firm we will partner with on the Reconnecting Communities Master Plan.”
The Event:
The Thursday, July 25, event at House Three Thirty begins with “food and mingling” at 5 p.m., followed by presentations from the firms at 6 p.m. A “meet and greet” with the firms will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Also known as state Rte. 59, the 4-mile-long, six-lane Innerbelt cuts through central Akron and the western edge of downtown. The area was previously home to a vibrant community of primarily Black residents.
Goals for the Akron Innerbelt
As Signal Akron reported in April, the three goals for the firms that responded to the city include:
- Creating a vision for the Innerbelt site that is reflective of the community’s values.
- Creating opportunities for financial growth for neighborhood residents adjacent to the Innerbelt site and throughout the city.
- Promoting equity through physical interventions and community benefits.
The four finalists are:
- Sasaki Design, a Boston-based firm that “believe(s) defining the future of place must be a collective, contextual, and values-driven exercise. We all have a stake in this work.”
- PORT, a Philadelphia and Chicago-based firm that “creates opportunities for the unexpected interplay between people and the natural environment, serving to animate and enrich public life and urban biodiversity.
- Cooper Carry, an Atlanta-based “architecture firm that brings an internationally recognized team of design professionals to the wide variety of project types we engage in, all united in the pursuit of excellence through the practice of connective design.”
- Agency Landscape + Planning, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based “mission-driven practice dedicated to addressing social equity, cultural vitality and environmental resilience through design excellence, strategic planning and community empowerment.”
