Cincinnati's historic and very centrally located Over-the-Rhine neighborhood is poised to become one of America's greatest revitalization stories, in the process creating a national exemplar of green, sustainable development. But a lot of things will need to happen in the right way for that ambitious vision to be realized, and there is plenty of potential for the opportunity to be missed or, worse, for it to go wrong in the doing.
The challenge will be to find enough capital, along with sensitive planners and builders, not just to do revitalization, but to do it in an inclusive way that respects the current residents, maintains affordability, respects the historic character of the building stock, and takes maximum advantage of green development practices. That's a tall order, but one well worth pursuing.
I apologize for just giving readers a link to my full story on my NRDC blog, but it's one I tell primarily with photos and images, and it is a little difficult for me to reproduce them here. If you're interested in the topic, please do check it out and let me know what you think.
Kaid Benfield writes occasional "Village Green" commentary on this site and (almost) daily on NRDC's Switchboard site about community, development, and the environment. For more posts, see my Switchboard blog's home page.