U Toledo (Cleveland, Bowling Green, Green: apartments, loft, home)

[jamplouno]

I've noticed that Toledo has my program and is close to home in terms of graduate schools for me. After doing some research, the school seems to have a lot going on for it. I've not visited the campus nor spent much time in the city. My main interests are in transportation geography/planning and the incorporation of urbanism into historic preservation. Can anyone tell me a little bit about UT before I go visit it this fall/winter?

Thank you all very much

[Johio83]

So wait, there's a graduate program at UT that focuses on urbanism and historic preservation? I think that's information that would interest quite a few people on this board, and definitely myself included. As for info on UT, I'm sure there are people here who can give you better info that I can.

[Tobias C]

I can't tell you a whole lot about the actual academic experience at UT because I haven't gone there yet, however im actually interested in the same subject matter as you and hope to somehow go back to school to get a degree in something relating to urban affairs. Historic preservation is at the top of my list. I know that UT does have an urban planning department so that would work for you.

What exactly are you curious about?

[jamplouno]

Just the town itself... how it works, what people do for fun, what role students play in the community etc.

I'm particularly interested in how "college town"ey Toledo is, and if not a college town, is it more Detroit or Cleveland? (Older, middle class vs. rising younger "creative" class)

[Tobias C]

Hmm. Well, Toledos probably more average middle class. There's definitely a creative class and there's lots of cultural happenings around the city, as well as some places that those people patronize, but Toledo pales in comparison to Cleveland. That's also a much bigger city though, and for it's size, Toledo has a respectable amount of creative leaning people, places, and events. If you're a super creative artsy type who's used to a bigger city, Toledo may leave a lot to be desired however. The thing about Toledo is there's lots of cool things that go on, but not everybody knows or appreciates those things. If you look around though, you'll find them.

I don't think Toledo is much of a college town. Our nearest place that's "college towney" would be Bowling Green right to the south of Toledo. We have a great University, but the immediate campus area definitely lacks a lot of college oriented amenities. There's bars and coffeeshops and what not, all relatively close to campus, but not really in any centralized location where students can walk from place to place easily. Students often just walk to the mediocre bars near campus, or the University does have buses to shuttle kids downtown. Downtown Toledo isn't close enough to campus to walk or even bike there. A lot of the places you would want to go are within a 5 mins drive though. On a good note though, theres plans for lots of new development around the campus including a big mixed use, downtown style development that will be anchored by a Barnes & Noble so it will hopefully get better.

As far as the city goes, UT doesn't have that much influence over the city as Toledo is fairly big still, (almost 300,000 people.) Its nothing like UM and Ann Arbor.

I don't know what you're into specifically but you should be able to find things to do here. We have a lot of great parks if that's of particular interest. Our downtown, while in a transitional state, is making strides toward becoming a vibrant place. The new baseball stadium and arena are big anchors for activity and development and there's a pretty decent array of bars and restaurants, as well as continual development of old historic buildings into nice new loft apartments and what not. My personal favorite area for going out to drink and what not is Adams St in the Uptown area. To me, the bars are better, and the people are more "cultured" as far as Toledo goes, be they hipsters, gays and lesbians, or just chill, normal people. Just my opinion.

Either way. I hope you come to school here, especially for what you're interested in. Toledo needs people like you, even if you only hang around for the duration of your college tenure. Good luck and any other specific questions, feel free to ask!