West End: What Was, What Is, What Could Be

SketchUp rendering of a proposed park cap over the highway at Ezzard Charles Drive, with paths, trees, and a crosswalk

Role: Team of three. I made the imageability map, the SWOT maps, the Ezzard Charles Park recommendations, the highway cap concept, and the community center, and laid out my own expanded edition of the book
Timeframe: Spring 2025 · Studio, 15 weeks
Location: West End, Cincinnati, Ohio
With: Andrew B., Matthew C.
Tools: Adobe InDesign
Illustrator
Photoshop
SketchUp
ArcGIS
Links: SWOT and proposals booklet (PDF)(opens in new tab)

The neighborhood

The West End is a small neighborhood of about 7,000 people wedged between I-75 and Over-the-Rhine. It has been home to some of Cincinnati’s most marginalized communities for well over a century, and today it holds most of the city’s public housing. With TQL Stadium built on its edge and Over-the-Rhine’s investment pushing west, the next few decisions will decide whether the place is still recognizable in fifty years.

Our studio spent the term on the neighborhood in three parts, which became the three chapters of the book: what was, what is, and what could be.

What was: impressions and history

We started by walking the neighborhood and mapping our impressions separately, then combining them. My imageability map picked out the edges, paths, landmarks, and districts as I experienced them. The combined map showed the strongest assets (plenty of green space and a good scattering of landmarks) and the biggest flaws: heavy edges on every side that pen the neighborhood in, and no commercial district, so residents have to leave for basic needs.

Imageability map of the West End with districts in color, star markers for landmarks, and heavy lines for edges and paths — My imageability map of the West End.

The history chapter follows the neighborhood from meatpacking and brewing through the postwar highway construction that split it into Queensgate and the West End, the public housing that replaced the historic housing stock, and the current wave of stadium-driven investment.

What is: data and analysis

The data chapter maps education, pollution, and health at the neighborhood scale. The West End sits in the basin, so it carries elevated pollution, but less than its neighbors to the east and west. Health is worse. There is almost no healthcare in the neighborhood, and the effects add up for longtime residents.

Pollution index map of the West End and neighboring areas, shaded from green (low) to red (high) — Pollution index by area. The West End is lower than Queensgate and Over-the-Rhine.

Health index map of the West End and surrounding neighborhoods, shaded from green to red — Health index. The lack of services shows up here.

The urban design analysis includes a figure ground of every building in the neighborhood, a linkages map of paths, intersections, and walksheds, and sections through Liberty and Linn streets (the neighborhood’s spine, which also turns its middle into a drive-through) and the Dayton Street Historic District.

Linkages map of the West End showing pathways, intersections, walksheds, and the center of each walkshed — Linkages: paths, intersections, and walksheds.

What could be: SWOT and proposals

The SWOT maps locate each strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat on the neighborhood map. Strengths: the Dayton Street Historic District, proximity to downtown, and green space. Weaknesses: failing infrastructure, no business district, low density, and dilapidated property. Opportunities: the historic housing stock, spreading investment, large vacant sites, and nearby jobs. Threats: a business district that grows without protecting residents, Liberty and Linn as busy thoroughfares, gentrification, and speculation.

Two SWOT maps of the West End: strengths in green and weaknesses in red, each labeled on the neighborhood outline — Strengths and weaknesses, mapped.

My three proposals each answer one of those gaps.

Ezzard Charles Highway Overpass Cap. A park cap over the I-75 overpass at Ezzard Charles Drive, reconnecting the West End with Union Terminal and Queensgate. The SketchUp model works out the paths, plantings, water fountains, and bike racks on the cap and the crosswalk at each end.

Wide SketchUp rendering of the proposed highway cap: a green park deck with curving paths and trees spanning the highway — The highway cap, looking toward Union Terminal.

Ezzard Community Center. A community center for the West End with a basketball court, community gardens, indoor gathering space, a pad for pop-up shops, and shaded areas to sit. The neighborhood has almost no indoor social space, so this goes next to the park.

Plan view of the proposed community center: a basketball court, garden plots, a main building, and shaded seating — Community center plan.

Booklet page with four rendered views of the community center: the court, the gardens, the entry, and the shaded gathering space — Rendered views from the booklet.

Ezzard Charles Park. The park (formerly Laurel Park) has a big lawn and old trees but few of the basics: benches, playgrounds, picnic tables, restrooms. The renderings add trees, benches, fountains, a playground, paths, and new houses along its edge, so the investment arriving with the stadium has somewhere to land without spreading through the rest of the neighborhood.