Akron Bets Big on Parks to Revitalize Downtown

The Ohio and Erie Canal towpath runs nearly 100 miles from the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland to New Philadelphia, Ohio. For decades it was traveled mostly by mules, tugging barges up and down the canal in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today it’s being converted into a multi-use recreational trail, with biking and walking paths winding through northeast Ohio towns and Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Right in the middle of the trail is a three-mile stretch running through downtown Akron, the fifth biggest city in Ohio, with a population just shy of 200,000. Improving the trail — and its adjacent public spaces — has become a central focus for the city of Akron and a network of nonprofit partners in recent years, in the hopes that the revitalization will draw investment to Akron’s languishing downtown.

“Akron is in the center of [the trail],” says Dan Rice, president and CEO of the Ohio and Erie Canalway Coalition, a nonprofit supporting the development of the trail. “If people are not coming to Akron or through Akron, we’re not successful with the overall project.”

Akron’s downtown is not a big place, encompassing little more than a few square blocks. But like other downtowns, it has an outsize impact on the economy and culture of the city. As the city has sought to improve its public spaces, it’s done so with the intention of building links between downtown and adjacent neighborhoods, and giving Akronites a reason to visit and spend time downtown — which has taken on new urgency in the wake of the pandemic.

“We are working on our brand — our identity as this welcoming place for all people,” says Suzanne Graham Moore, Akron’s economic development director. “The downtown is probably where that heart beats the loudest.”

Last fall, the city unveiled a $17 million improvement to Lock 3 Park, a downtown park along the towpath that opened in 2003. While the park hosted concerts for years, officials say it was underused, difficult to navigate, and for many people felt unsafe. The improvements, including a new performance pavilion, landscaped gardens and wayfinding signs, are meant to invite daytime visitors and improve connections between downtown Akron and adjacent neighborhoods, including nearby Summit Lake. It’s part of a strategy of investing in the public realm, emphasized as part of a multicity project called Reimagining the Civic Commons, that is anchoring Akron’s efforts to improve its downtown for residents and businesses.

The Knight Foundation launched Reimagining the Civic Commons in Philadelphia in 2015 and later expanded it to other cities, including Detroit, Memphis, Cincinnati and its hometown of Akron, by far the smallest of the cohort. The effort was meant to help cities invest in public assets, including parks, trails, libraries and rec centers, to promote social cohesion and environmental sustainability.

“The arc over eight years has been prototype and test, and learn from the prototypes,” says Kyle Kutuchief, the Knight Foundation’s Akron director. To that end, the organization has funded “semi-permanent investments” to public spaces, including hosting movie nights and “pop-up beaches” on the shores of Summit Lake. Working with nonprofit and philanthropic partners has allowed the city to test out ideas it might consider too risky otherwise. “If chaos ensues, if the chairs get thrown in the lock, if the firepits get crazy, we will pull them out,” Kutuchief says.

Another thing Akron has learned from other cities during the Reimagining the Civic Commons process has been the importance of keeping spaces well-maintained and programmed after capital improvements are finished. “We’re not going to put something in unless we have a maintenance plan,” says Chris Ludle, the city’s director of public service.


The city’s first summer of events at the new Lock 3 Park has featured a series of concerts and cultural festivals, many planned in coordination with community groups. Strong attendance at those events has been a marker of success for the city. But officials are also tracking subtler signs of revitalization and a perception of improved safety in the space: Women running alone in the park, and more people visiting during the day, walking dogs, sunbathing and picnicking. Visitation is up since 2018 at Lock 3 and other public parks near downtown. Akron Civic Theatre, a nearly century-old theater across the street from Lock 3 Park, has also emphasized planning events that could attract a wide swath of people from around Akron.

“We have pretty much every kind of programming that everybody would want to see, and we have price points that go from free to substantial,” says Howard Parr, executive director of the theater. “It’s the whole idea of bringing communities together for events. The focus on economic, demographic, racial, every type of diversity and community representation — that’s why you see the growth.”

There are limits to all these strategies. Like many other places, downtown Akron lost businesses and employers during the pandemic. Commercial real estate has lost some of its value and buildings are changing hands, many with uncertain futures. The city has been promoting residential development downtown — 600 units are in the development pipeline, according to Graham Moore, the economic development director — but still has fewer employers than it did before the pandemic.

“We believe our path to stabilization is people getting to know this place,” says Kutuchief. “The more they see, the more they’re gonna fall in love with it.”

Improving public space is a key strategy for revitalization, says Tracy Hadden Loh, a fellow at Brookings Metro who is researching downtown recovery in small and midsized cities, including Akron. But many other strategies are equally important, including land-use reform, Hadden Loh says. According to a recent report she co-authored, a third of downtown Akron’s land is dedicated to parking.

“There’s no one strategy that’s a magic bullet to revitalize downtowns,” Hadden Loh says. “You’ve got to do all the stuff.”

For its part, the city is betting that the partnerships and shared strategy it’s building between government, residents, institutions and funding partners will pay off with a more active, vibrant and prosperous downtown. Graham Moore spent 12 years as director of the Downtown Akron Partnership, a business improvement district, before joining the city under Mayor Shammas Malik, who was elected in 2023. Because of the work they’ve done together over the last decade, the transition from the nonprofit side to the public sector has been smooth, she says.

“It’s really great to see those threads be able to be pulled together,” Graham Moore says. “We collectively have a lot of hope and optimism for our city.”