Terry Schwarz

 

Director of Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative

 

by Josiah Gilbert-Taylor, crew 6  

 

 

“I hope the small changes start to add-up to bigger benefits. The pop-up city was a short-term solution and has more immediate impact,” said Terry Schwarz when she described her work as an urban planner at the Urban Design Collaborative. Mrs. Schwarz is the director of Kent State University’s Urban Design Collaborative.

 

Mrs. Schwarz has done many projects over the years, but her main is the Pop- Up City. The Pop-Up City is a project made to better cities so they can be safer and healthier by putting temporary businesses in vacant storefronts. The biggest Pop-Up was on the Detroit/ Superior Bridge. This was a bridge that was two stories high. They are now making the first story open to the public.

The Urban Design Collaborative also worked on a project for Cleveland called Reimagining a More Sustainable Cleveland. The project worked on using vacant lots for re-use. The goal is to beautify the vacant lots of Cleveland. She made plans to change vacant lots to gardens and other usable spaces. Mrs. Schwarz and her team at the design collaborative even published a book with plans for people to use to improve vacant lots around them.    

 

For Mrs. Schwarz this work hasn’t always been easy. There were some struggles.  One her struggles was the “Forgotten Triangle.” The people gave it this name because they thought that it was the city planner’s fault. The project name was originally called the Opportunity Corridor. The project was supposed to connect the west suburbs to the east suburbs. If Terry Schwarz and her crew were going to make the project work they had to build a road connecting the west and the east. But the struggle was Terry Schwarz’s team would have to knock down homes and buildings. If Schwarz did this it would had been thoughtless. It was because the communities living in the area weren’t considered they weren’t considered because they would get there houses knock downed. Mrs. Schwarz felt terrible about this. Terry Schwarz did make the road but she felt bad about it because people houses got knocked down. This is why this was a struggle. 

 

Terry Schwarz makes a difference in Cleveland through her work at the Urban Design Collaborative. Terry does this by fixing stuff like buildings, streets, and parks. She does a lot in Cleveland to fix problems with vacant lots. But vacant lots are the most vulnerable because they are the most hurt part of Cleveland. She thinks that cities should be good places for everybody to live. The people of Cleveland need public voices to rebuild our cities.

 

Terry Schwarz is a wonderful helper to Cleveland, and she started her interest in this as a kid. Terry holds an important title today, but this title wasn’t handed to her. As a kid Mrs. Schwarz didn’t know what she wanted to be. She thought she was disorganized. Terry Schwarz decided to go to college for architecture. This is how she got interested in her cause. After studying architecture she went on to become involved in urban planning and the work at the design collaborative at Kent State University.

 

In conclusion, Terry Schwarz is a good contributor to Cleveland. She’s a contributor because her current work helps Cleveland be safer and healthier. Even when she struggled she overcame them. She impacts Cleveland by her work every day.  Her future goals are to continue to help make Cleveland a better place.