The City of Akron has selected the planning firm that will design the next phase of the decommissioned Akron Innerbelt.
Sasaki was chosen following July’s community engagement event at House Three Thirty. At that event, residents heard directly from four finalists and submitted feedback.
Sasaki has reimagined neighborhoods, infrastructure and public spaces across the globe, including the Healthline BRT and Nord Family Greenway – both in Cleveland – and the Chicago Riverwalk. Sasaki has offices in Boston, Los Angeles, Denver, New York and Shanghai, China.
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said Sasaki showcased a level of experience and expertise that really impressed his administration during the interview process, adding that the firm prioritized community involvement and included several local experts in the design of the group.
“So they know the history and importance of the work to be done here,” Malik said in a statement.
“The Innerbelt created a scar on the face of our community and as we take the next steps to determine the future of this area, we can hopefully begin to heal that wound and repair what was damaged,” he said.
Sasaki’s team includes WSP, a global engineering firm; ThirdSpace Action Lab, a Cleveland-based consulting firm and minority business enterprise; Ideas and Action, a minority business enterprise which will assess real estate, economic development and community wealth building; City Architecture, a local urban design and community-based architecture firm; and Vista Site Selection, an Ohio-based company specializing in economic development.
“This is an opportunity to confront the racist legacies of urban renewal, reconnect divided communities and create equitable access to new opportunities for all Akronites,” said Siqi Zhu, an associate principal and director of planning and urban technology at Sasaki.
“We will collaborate closely with the community, especially those impacted by the Innerbelt, to ensure that the solutions we propose look and feel like Akron. Together, we can turn a symbol of historical harm into one of healing and opportunity for the future.”
In March 2023, the City of Akron was awarded $960,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to reconnect communities by funding a community-based master plan to guide the transformation of the now vacated section of the Innerbelt.
The master plan will identify interventions that can be implemented immediately “to have positive impacts on residents’ lives,” the release stated. The plan will also look at ways to repurpose the land in ways that “improve the future resilience and vitality of the city.”
Funding to implement the plan will require the city to pursue many different sources over time, including another grant through the Reconnecting Communities program to help with the implementation of the master plan.
Recently, the DOT moved up the deadline for those grant applications to Sept. 30. The city said it intends to work with Sasaki to complete a preliminary plan to meet that application deadline.
The Innerbelt project
Innerbelt construction began in 1970. The 4-mile-long, six-lane highway — also known as state Route 59 — cuts through central Akron and runs north along the western edge of downtown. Before the Innerbelt, the area was a vibrant community that was home to families of color — primarily Black residents.
The development “was driven by federal funding and urban renewal which often aimed to expand the interstate highway system and redevelop areas designated as ‘slums’ around the country,” according to the Reconnecting Our Community initiative report from the City of Akron.
The original goal of the project was to “rejuvenate” downtown, but instead, the project led to the displacement of people, homes and businesses. As of today, only around 11.2 acres of the roughly 40 acres is in use, leaving about 28.8 acres lying desolate and awaiting redevelopment.
More than 700 homes, more than 100 businesses and several houses of worship were displaced when the City of Akron exercised eminent domain – a power held by governments to force owners to accept payment for their private property and turn it into a public space.
“It’s clear from conversations with Akron residents impacted by the Innerbelt’s original construction that its creation left not only physical scars but also economic, social, and emotional ones, from insufficient compensation to disrupted social networks,” the report states.
