© 2025 WOSU Public Media
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

'Heart Of The City' Profiles The Evolution Of Downtown Cincinnati

Construction workers stand outside a new building under construction near Vine St. and 14th St. in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood Thursday, April 9, 2009, in Cincinnati.
Al Behrman
/
AP
Construction workers stand outside a new building under construction near Vine St. and 14th St. in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood Thursday, April 9, 2009, in Cincinnati.

The story of downtown Cincinnati's current revival is told alongside similar tales from other cities as told by prominent urban planner Alexander Garvin.

In his new book, The Heart of the City: Creating Vibrant Downtowns for a New Century, Garvin, an adjunct professor at Yale University, traces Cincinnati's renaissance to 2003 with the creation of the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC). He notes the targeting of Over-the-Rhine for redevelopment and the launch of the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar.

"The leaders of Cincinnati were convinced that for OTR to become a popular destination, it needed to be connected to the rest of downtown and its sports stadiums by light rail," Garvin writes. "However, streetcars were not needed to spur development in OTR. The revival of OTR was already well under way before the system opened."

Garvin joined Cincinnati Edition earlier this year to talk about his book and the role Cincinnati's urban transformation plays in it.

Listen to Cincinnati Edition live at noon M-F. Audio for this segment will be uploaded after 4 p.m. ET.

Never miss an episode by subscribing to our podcast: 

Copyright 2021 91.7 WVXU. To see more, visit 91.7 WVXU.

Michael Monks brings a broad range of experience to WVXU-FM as the new host of Cincinnati Edition, Cincinnati Public Radio's weekday news and information talk show.