Seeing the future in the Cuyahoga Valley
Want a tantalizing glimpse of how our civilization will be designed in the future? Then listen to the urban planners, industrial ecologists, landscape architects, entrepreneurs, artists, and other visionaries who are working on the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative.
The initiative, which is managed by the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, is the most far-reaching attempt in Northeast Ohio to imagine — through the lens of sustainability — how people, cities, economic activity, and nature will co-exist in the future. It aims to provide the tools necessary for the community to revitalize the valley and make it once again an economic force, environmental treasure, and unifying element for the region.
The initiative starts with a real place — the valley, site of the burning river, home of the most amazing glories and worst degradations of the Industrial Age. For two centuries, the valley, the river, and its tributaries have been the underlying structure of the natural systems of Greater Cleveland. And the valley has provided the geographical logic for development patterns that have shaped where we live, work, and travel.
Now this place can be a setting for regeneration. For instance, imagine organizing a network of companies in the valley that operate symbiotically. One has waste heat that becomes low-cost energy for other companies. Another company produces a chemical waste that becomes a feedstock in the manufacturing process of its neighbor. Over time, a complex ecology of relationships develops. Waste is reduced, firms are more profitable, and more money stays in the local economy.
Then building owners discover they can lower cooling costs by installing green roofs with vegetation. This helps lower ambient temperatures in the valley and, as additional benefits, reduces stormwater pollution and improves habitat for wildlife.
Public agencies collaborate to finish projects such as the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and the restoration of creeks flowing into the river. The entire valley becomes greener, cleaner, and a more desireable place to be. Property values increase for the private sector, which produces greater tax receipts for the public sector. Everyone gets into the habit of solving problems in holistic ways that create multiple benefits.
The county planning commission is already starting to support this vision for the valley. It's creating a process of community outreach and engagement complete with tours and interactive digital media. It's working with some of the most imaginative consultants in the country including Rocky Mountain Institute and, locally, Currere and Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, to create content, including a toolbox of suggested practices, guidelines, incentives, and development codes. And it's working on catalytic projects, such as the Towpath, that will redefine the valley as a special place.
County planning commission director Paul Alsenas says that Northeast Ohio is at a critical transition point in its history. To break out of its stagnation, the region requires transformational change. We must decide what baggage — ideas, skills, economic practices, forms of organization — to leave behind and what we should carry forward in the 21st century.
The Cuyahoga Valley is our Ground Zero. It's where we can come together and discover new ways of creating a more sustainable future.
Resources
Cuyahoga Valley Initiative: A Model of Regeneration (PDF)
Designing a Regeneration Zone
Other regeneration projects
Innovation Valley (Merrimack River Valley)
