Leaders of the Cuyahoga Land Bank recently met with a group of 14 students from the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany. The students were in the U.S. researching development paths of shrinking cities in different planning cultural environments. The students, all studying the field of spatial planning at the University, were hosted by the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative at Kent State University.

Cuyahoga Land Bank Chief Operating Officer Bill Whitney shared insights on Cleveland’s positive current development path and the role the Cuyahoga Land Bank is playing in the housing market in the region. “The students were very well informed,” says Whitney. “They asked a lot of interesting questions about the demographic decline and economic struggle of the city, but also about the impressive number of initiatives and projects aimed at improving the livability of the city.”

The students spent a week in the U.S. and then continued their research in Nagasaki, Japan, and Bochum, Germany, comparing how planning and development evolve in different cultural environments.