Over the Rhine, Cincinnati

Danilo Palazzo and Vikas Mehta, both professors at the School of Planning, University of Cincinnati, are examining Over-the-Rhine (OTR)—one of the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the United States with over 1,100 historically contributing buildings. Their case study explores OTR’s rapid 21st-century transformation from a neighborhood marked by severe decline, disinvestment, and the 2001 civil unrest following the police shooting of Timothy Thomas, to its 2017 recognition by the American Planning Association as one of the nation’s “great neighborhoods.”

The research examines how innovative public-private partnerships led by the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), historic preservation efforts, strategic placemaking interventions including the redesign of Washington Park and the activation of cultural anchors like Music Hall and Findlay Market, and substantial corporate-backed investment catalyzed this dramatic change. Palazzo and Mehta investigate the tensions inherent in such rapid regeneration: questions of gentrification and displacement of low-income residents, the challenge of maintaining socioeconomic and racial diversity, the role of different stakeholders with often conflicting visions for the neighborhood’s future, and ultimately who benefits from—and who pays the price for—urban renaissance.