W. 29th Street Open Street

West 29th Street is a commercial street in the Hingetown enclave of Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, and is home to galleries, the contemporary art outpost of the Cleveland Museum of Art, mixed-use residential development, and several small businesses. Two blocks of this street have been regularly closed to traffic for several events throughout the year, and as the residential family population increases, the City, the community, and the local businesses have been exploring permanently closing these blocks to expand space for pedestrians and allow for more community uses. 

Dotted with industrial sites and vacant lots, this mixed-use, historic neighborhood has seen an influx of young families. However, there are not many public spaces for children. In lieu of other public programming, “family day” events at local businesses are already at capacity. This neighborhood is home to the largest concentration of public services in the city, and is also home to a growing number of working professionals, young people, and empty nesters moving back into the urban core. With the Project for Public Spaces’ Community Placemaking Grant in 2024, these two blocks will be transformed into a safe space for families and children to gather and play. As one of the few open public spaces in the neighborhood, this new public space would allow for greater informal interaction between neighbors, greater safety and protection from car traffic, more robust gathering space for the community to patronize local retail, and the opportunity to increase the tree canopy in a formerly redlined neighborhood that still suffers from a generational lack of trees and greenspace.