CINCINNATI – The City of Cincinnati has been awarded the 2025 Best Practice Innovation Award for the Connected Communities Initiative by the Ohio Chapter of the American Planning Association. The Department of City Planning and Engagement accepted the award at the APA Ohio Planning Conference on September 26, 2025 in Toledo, Ohio.

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The biennial awards program honors outstanding projects accomplished through careful planning and unbridled imagination in Ohio.

The Connected Communities initiative, launched by the City of Cincinnati Department of City Planning and Engagement in 2022 and adopted in 2024, was a comprehensive two-year effort to address the city’s first population growth in 70 years amid housing shortages and rising costs. Developed entirely in-house by city staff, it combined robust community engagement—including 34 events, over 2,000 participants, and innovative tools like the interactive “Simcinnati” game and StoryMaps—with best practices from research and other cities to shape progressive zoning reforms. These reforms expanded middle housing options, eased density and height restrictions, eliminated parking minimums, streamlined LIHTC projects, and introduced new design standards, focusing on areas near neighborhood business districts and future Bus Rapid Transit lines.

The process emphasized accessibility, interactivity, and consensus-building, resulting in a cost-effective, transferable model for other cities. By aligning with long-term plans like Plan Cincinnati and securing federal support, Connected Communities represents a bold, high-quality, and replicable example of how local governments can enact meaningful, community-driven policy change to foster more inclusive, connected, and sustainable growth.

Jurors commented, “This was an innovative plan to engage the community regarding housing in Cincinnati. This game allowed community members to understand complex zoning ideas and see the visual differences between housing types.”