Greater University Circle
University Circle is a square-mile
district about four miles east of downtown Cleveland that is home
to approximately 40 education, health, arts, and social services
institutions. Since the 1950s, the University Circle institutions
have worked together to plan the development of the Circle,
acquire land, and provide services such as landscaping, policing,
and marketing through an organization called University Circle,
Inc. In 2005, the Cleveland Foundation initiated a new effort to
bring the district’s institutions together to address critical
infrastructure needs and revitalize the surrounding “greater”
University Circle neighborhoods. Through these two efforts, the
institutions in University Circle have contributed to
infrastructure development in a number of ways – including
providing up-front money to pay for design and planning,
supporting grant applications, and even taking the lead in
raising funding and constructing streetscape and other
improvements. This case study reviews the range of ways that
anchor institutions have contributed to infrastructure and
transit-oriented development in the Circle.