Norwich Ave

Traffic Flow: The traffic flows only one way on Norwich Avenue. It makes it really difficult to navigate. The construction constricts to road even more making it even more difficult to navigate. The design of the road fits the mold that the rest of the campus has created but still not ideal considering the amount of traffic this area sees. The speed on this road is not posted but probably mimics the rest of the area and is slow around 20 mph. The traffic moves slower than the speed limit however due to the tightness and construction restrictions. Once construction is complete road conditions will somewhat improve but due to the maturity of the area not much can be done to relieve the stress.

Sidewalks: The sidewalks are average for the area not too nice but not overly dated or broken. Where the construction is taking place the sidewalk is hard to access. Again conditions will be improved with the completion of the construction but could also just be repaired or replaced to be further improved however that is not entirely necessary. 

Street Width: The street is overly narrow. Parking on either side of the street and the construction further down Norwich make it even more narrow than designed. The conditions can not really be improved because the parking is necessary for residents and the only way to widen the road at all would be to get rid of parking. Widening of the street in any other nature would not be possible due to the maturity of the area. 

Street Safety: The streets feel pretty safegoing up and down them. However no crossing opportunities are truly obvious at all on the road making crossing at night or in weather conditions pretty dangerous in comparison.  Crosswalks could be added at many points or at least at street corners.

Accessibility: At street intersections the sidewalks have curb ramps as well as the detectable paving which is utilized by the visually impaired. 

Tuttle Park Place/ Neil Ave:

Traffic Flow: Traffic flows both ways on both of these streets. Traffic lights are also present making traffic movement pretty easy and flowing. The design for the area seems just and the lights really help with high volumes moving through the area. The speed limit in the area is 25 mph which keeps traffic from moving to slow or fast and its moves steady through the area. Not much could be improved in this area of the route because it does a good job of moving high volumes through a mature and congested area. 

Sidewalks: The sidewalks are very nice and wide allowing plenty of room for passing pedestrians. Not much is invading their purpose and not much is needed to improve them. They are good how they currently are. 

Street Width: The streets are plenty wide enough and not much of anything is invasive on the road like parking or construction. Traffic is all that bad for the area and the street being wider would not serve much purpose. 

Street Safety: Many crosswalks are present throughout this area mostly because of the campus area. They are located mid street and at street ends with pedestrian walk lights. The signal times are plenty long enough for entire crossing of the street and for the volume of pedestrians that embody this area. 

Accessibility: At street intersections the sidewalks have curb ramps as well as the detectable paving which is utilized by the visually impaired. 

West Woodruff Avenue:

Traffic Flow: Traffic on this road flows both ways. This design is necessary for this area because of the high volume traveling through campus to both high streets and outlying areas. The road speed limit is 20 mph which is comparable to the rest of the area and makes sense when looking at the surrounding purpose and high level of pedestrians in the area. The high level of traffic keeps traffic flowing pretty close to the speed limit if not slower.

Sidewalks: The sidewalks are pretty wide allowing for all the student volume and traffic walking to and from class. They are in very good condition and nothing really needs to be done to improve them. 

Street Width: Streets are plenty wide considering the speed limit and the surrounding buildings and purpose. Nothing much could be done about that anyways. Nothing would change with increasing the street width in the area. 

Street Safety: The streets feel very safe for pedestrian use, probably the safest on the whole path we navigated. There are plenty of opportunities along the road for crossing and the signals allow ample amount of time for crossing.    

Accessibility: At street intersections the sidewalks have curb ramps as well as the detectable paving which is utilized by the visually impaired. 

High Street: 

Traffic Flow: Traffic on this road also travels both ways. Traffic density on this road is also very high. The speed limit on the road 25 mph which with the traffic and construction does not often get reached. Constant starting and stopping and traffic changes and diversions are frequent. Traffic flow will be slightly improved once construction along the high street area is complete. However, the sheer number of people traveling through the area and around the area traffic will always be of concern. 

Sidewalks: The sidewalks on this road are a little more in need of attention than the rest of the areas. They are uneven in spots and are inaccessible in other spots due to construction. Again when construction is done the area will be much improved but the sidewalks could use renovations in spots. You can definitely tell the locations were construction has been done versus areas that have not. 

Street Width:  The street is narrow considering the traffic density however cannot be altered to the maturity and growth that has happened around high street.

Street Safety: Streets do feel mildly safe however sometimes crossing high street seems slightly hazardous especially at night when traffic is lower and vehicles may not be adhering to traffic regulations. More pedestrian crosses as well as signals specifying crosses would help the safety of the area very much.  

Accessibility: At street intersections the sidewalks have curb ramps as well as the detectable paving which is utilized by the visually impaired. 

Commons At Buckingham 

Commons at Buckingham is located right next to interstate 670. It is also surrounded by on the perimeter by Columbus State Vet Tech building and what appears to be a distribution center of sorts. The building is constructed of beige and tan brick in a geometrical type style. Height wise the building is comparable to the surrounding buildings although there are not many. There also are no other surrounding living spaces close by. The property is surrounded by businesses and educational type buildings. The property in and of it self it very nice and well maintained but right out side the property the landscape is not maintained what so ever and land looks very industrial. The apartments are extremely close to the columbus state campus. The property doesn’t seem to be made to house individual people but seems to be more of broad use building based on appearances. It has a hospital type look from the exterior.n The nearest grocery store is a few miles. Based on appearances and location the building it is not very personal or have much of a homey feel, it is very plain, cold and has a singular purpose which is to home individuals.  

When the crime map was set at 500ft from the location the only crime was theft. Within 1,000 ft there was another report of theft. Within .25 there are more reports of theft and robbery. When the map is extended to .5 miles there’s over 20 counts of theft, individual robbery, grand theft auto, and assault. The crime is less dense in this area because it’s only in the blue range. The closest schools to the Commons at Buckingham are the Arts Impact Middle School and the Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School. The Arts Impact Middle School (AIMS) is rated a 3/10 on greatschools.org. Their overall student averages for math, science, and reading all fall below the state average. This isn’t a good sign when trying to find a good school, this also suggests that students at this school are not performing at grade level. The Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School is also rated a 3/10 on greatschools.org. Again, they fall below the state average in all subjects. The state average for integrated math 2 is 34% and percent at this school is only 9%. The property values in the surrounding area range from 9K-6.3M. The properties in the million dollar range are buildings or apartment complexes. The houses themselves are very rundown and not maintained properly. The actual houses range from 9K-51K, all other properties are buildings; which again are all run down. 

Creative Living Center

The Creative Living Center is located near 315 and King Ave on Perry St. It is right beside the Ohio State University Medical Campus. This property is a low rise one story complex constructed of brick. It lacks individual complexes or doors from the outside. The height and scale of the building is similar to those around it. It is located by single family homes that are most likely occupied by students. It in general is a very unattractive building that is very different in comparison to surrounding buildings. In general the property is well maintained but in comparison to the university’s medical campus the property is not well maintained. It has the appearance from the exterior as a home for the elderly or something close in purposes. The parking lot and fencing need some upkeep and maintenance.

When looking at the LexisNexis Community Crime map,  it can be determined that most crimes committed in the 0.5 miles radius are located in the eastern direction. The crimes consisted in this eastern area are a majority of  heft, fraud, and robbery of a motor vehicles. Within the last six months, there have been 5 crimes of assault and 1 of homicide. These are the hottest kinds of crimes (red) and are in a much closer proximity to the Creative Living Center. The crimes continue to grow worse and more saturated towards the East as it begins to fill the entire map when the location becomes a 1 mile radius. In more detail of the area, there are also 3 sex offenders that live less than a block away from the center. Compared to Commons on Buckingham with only 3 crimes in total of its 0.5 miles radius , the Creative Living Center appears to be more dangerous due to the amount of criminal activity that has taken place within the last 6 months. Looking at the Zillow Map around this area, the apartments and condominiums are in the $800 range in the 500ft-1000ft distance of the center, and increase to $3K range at the 0.25 mile distance. For housing in the 500ft radius most of the housing goes from $100K-$250K; for 1000ft the range is $250K-$400K; for 0.25 miles radius the houses range from $500K-$700K. The prices for residential living appears to go up in the northern and southern distances from the center. This is more than likely due downtown Columbus being south and the University being north, rather than affordable housing being in this location.

Good Examples of Zoning

Retail on Lane and High

The northern side’s characteristic of Lane Avenue and High Street intersection is a prime example of retail zoning. Some of the retail stores in this area includes CVS, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s, Chop Shop, and Dominos. All of the structures are at a uniform height and have a brick and mortar theme that matches many of the other retail stores in Old North Columbus. Businesses within this area all have similar use and occupation. Because of this consistency, there is not a disruption in the community when searching for a bite to eat or retrieving everyday needs. The Buffalo Wild Wings is at the corner across the street from The Ohio State University’s Campus. The height of this building is slightly higher to mimic the dorms directly across, as they both have similar roof systems. This feature unites the identity of the OSU community’s aesthetics and smoothly transitions it into a retail zone of the Old North Columbus area.  

The Residential Neighborhood on West Norwich Avenue

The residential neighborhood on West Norwich Avenue is located right next to campus, so that makes it a great place for not only families, but students as well. This makes it a nice, easy walking distance for their classes. Buildings in this neighborhood are all old models, and most look similar in that respect. The size, height and shape of them are also cohesive with each other because of how the duplexes and single family homes look on the outside and there are similar facades. Housing spaces are narrow, but if there was more spacing then there would be less housing for Ohio State students. Setbacks of the properties are normal since it is student housing. These include: lack of physical maintenance to the exterior, old, dirty furniture on the porches, and overgrown lawns. Parking on campus is rather difficult due to the minimal spaces that are allotted and street parking is always full. A lot of the time, in the backyard parking, people are blocking other cars and that can make it hard to get out of the space.

As seen above the spacing is different on either side of the house and not uniform. Although the discrepancies are not major they still exist and the slight variation is extremely noticeable on the larger scale. Some of the houses are Victorian looking in style as seen on the left. And other homes are more modern in style. Most residences do fall into these categories and overall create some continuity on a larger scale.

Bad Examples of Zoning 

The Outlier on Tuttle 

Blackwell Inn is a hotel located on Tuttle Park Place. It is on The Ohio State University’s campus which seems to be an outlier of it surrounding area. Nearby is Fisher’s School of Business, Knowlton’s School of Architecture, Remembrance Park, and  The Ohio Stadium. While the Blackwell is owned by the university, hotels are normally zoned in commercial areas. Universities are considered an institutional zone, witnessing the functions of this building shows why some zoning should not mix. The circulation of an Ohio State student or staff is disturbed as a valet horseshoe interrupts the sidewalk. It is not successful in function because traffic direction is depended on the workers. If workers of the hotel are not present,  confusion arises between pedestrians and drivers determining who should proceed forward. Another setback with a hotel in an institutional zone, is the lack the common community receives to utilize the facility for everyday educational purposes. This is not a common place on campus that promotes academic studying, but rather attracts the audience of visitors. For an institutional zone, hotels should remain in a more commercial area due to the inconsistency it contributes to the area.

Bar Directly Next to Residential Areas

Threes Above High, along with a couple other bars are located right among residential areas. As seen in the photo above directly adjacent to the bar. This isn’t ideal for the zoning of the area because of noise and traffic congestion. But this is most likely a necessary issue in place because of the sheer number of off campus housing necessary to house all upperclassmen students and without the result of the zoning there would be a major setback in off-campus housing for students.

Part I: Kevin Lynch’s City Elements

District- 

This photo represents a district because it is symbol used to represent the discovery district in central Columbus. It is home to CCAD, The Columbus Museum of Art and The Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Path-

This is representing an edge. This is a photo of High Street and how on one side of High Street is where campus is located and on the other side there are restaurants, night life and housing. Therefore High Street acts as the edge separating these two highly contrasting communities.

Node-

This is representing the intersection between Lane Ave. and High Street. This intersection is a node because it is an essential place on both campus and downtown Columbus that allows for orientation and a sense of direction because both roads are essential to road travel in Columbus.

Path-

The Oval serves as a path on Ohio States’ campus. It is a major means to traveling (by foot) to classes as well as to the student union, Thompson and The Shoe.

The William Oxley Thompson statue is a landmark on OSU’s campus. It allows for students, faculty, and visitors to better understand location amongst the entirety of campus.

Part II: Emotions

Frustration-

This is a photo of the COTA bus system in attempt to show how it disrupts flow of traffic and can be really frustrating. They constantly start and stop and constantly evoke this emotion in  most drivers around the Columbus area.

Pride-

This makes you feel pride to be able to be apart of the something so energetic and exciting. The feeling of being in the shoe is unlike any other feeling and the sense of community that is felt in there is infectious.

Shame-

This is a photo of midway. Sometimes a feeling of shame is often associated with places of night life if the weekend got a little out of control.

Curiosity-

This is the Columbus Convention and curiosity is felt here because a lot of conventions are held here. Conventions can hold tons of unknown information and if one loves to learn new things and expand their minds one often does that a events such as these.

Anxiety-

Often times when heading to Thompson Library it is to study for a big exam finals week or to get a lot of homework. All of which can bring a lot of anxiety along with it.

Team members: Alyssa Graziano, Sophia Fritz, Kayla Robinson