A team of planners in Akron are trying to create some optimism for the future of one of the city's most blighted stretches of highway.
"For a generation, the southernmost stretch of Howard Street has been a vague, disconnected thing, a dogleg off the back end of downtown Akron.
The only potential upside is that the corridor is mostly a blank slate, and blank slates are good for the imagination.
It also happens to be a blank slate with a dramatic downhill vista; a robust, historic park; and some ambitious new housing. Also, a river runs through it.
Last weekend, a group of about 20 students and a half dozen faculty from Kent State University's Urban Design Center met in an open space at the new Northside Lofts complex, a vast room with unfinished concrete walls and exposed pipes, an apt setting for the imagination."
FULL STORY: Howard Street is a lofty place for big dreams

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA)
Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research