By Robbie Gonzalez
In March, Donald Trump made a menacing prediction about what would happen should the Republican Party not grant him its nomination at the upcoming Republican National Convention in Cleveland: “I think you’d have riots. I think you’d have riots. I’m representing a tremendous… many, many millions of people.”
As tens of thousands of people with sharply opposing political viewpoints prepare to assemble in downtown Cleveland, city officials are looking to the physical layout of the urban landscape itself to help manage four days of intense demonstrations and marches. Demonstrators from organizations as disparate as Bikers for Trump and Stand Together to Stop Trump are slated to gather within the same designated Event Zone. Spanning 3.3 square miles, this high-security district functions almost as a city within a city, where common items like tennis balls, flashlights, and water guns are strictly prohibited, yet—owing to Ohio state law—firearms remain fully permitted.
At the very center of this high-stakes political theater, both metaphorically and almost literally, sits Cleveland’s newly redesigned and remodeled Public Square. Serving as a park that hosts a city-sanctioned Speakers’ Platform, the space is primed for intense public discourse. The product of renowned landscape architect James Corner, who is perhaps most famous for his work on New York City’s High Line, this immaculate public plaza is about to face its ultimate test as a democratic gathering place, transforming into a focal point for sustained demonstration.
Because the physical architecture of a space inherently informs how people inhabit and move through it, urban design experts, crowd management specialists, and veteran activists are weighing in on how the park’s layout could influence the behavior of protesters, counter-protesters, and convention attendees alike. While it remains entirely unpredictable whether the demonstrations will remain peaceful or boil over into violence, professionals like Corner, crowd management expert Paul Wertheimer, and activist Greg Coleridge have distinct ideas about how the space will function. Their perspectives offer a fascinating look at the intersection of urban design and political expression.
A Good Public Square Promotes People Flow
The physical redesign of Public Square aimed to unify what was previously a fragmented urban landscape into a single, cohesive park. Historically, the old Public Square was divided into four distinct quadrants separated by busy roadways, yet it remained a popular staging area for public marches.
Reflecting on past demonstrations, Greg Coleridge, director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee and a veteran organizer with decades of experience protesting in Cleveland, notes how the layout shaped movement. “In the past,” Coleridge says, “we would circle one or two of the four quadrants before going somewhere else.” While he believes the new Public Square will not fundamentally alter the established routes of major public marches, he acknowledges that “one could easily envision the new square affecting how they form.” The updated design makes it significantly easier for a crowd to completely encircle the park or walk directly through its interior, potentially allowing a march to gather momentum and attract broader attention before setting out on its route.
To achieve this unification of the old four quadrants, James Corner’s design team closed one major road, significantly reduced the width of the remaining avenue, and wrapped the entire park in what they call a “promenade ribbon.” This architectural feature is explicitly intended to encourage visitors to walk both around and through the green space.
“Those journeys, especially the diagonal ones, were not available before,” Corner explains, emphasizing that these pathways are an essential feature for public parks in which “the interaction of a diverse mix of people is allowed to really play out.”
Visibility Is Good for Democracy
Beyond pedestrian flow, the geometry of a public space plays a crucial role in how crowds interact and perceive one another during large political gatherings. Coleridge points out that traditional circle- and square-shaped public spaces have historically lent themselves exceptionally well to public demonstrations.
“Everyone can see each other and everyone has a sense of equality,” he observes. However, the newly redesigned Public Square departs from that traditional geometry, adopting a layout that Coleridge describes as resembling an hourglass. While the updated design certainly affords sweeping sightlines that the old layout lacked—particularly along its diagonal pathways—large swaths of the park are now punctuated by trees, plantings, and garden beds that intentionally break up open lines of sight.
Corner offers a complementary perspective on the importance of visibility, noting that one of the great joys of a well-designed public space is the simple, powerful act of people seeing one another. Among Public Square’s most notable new features are its primary sightlines, which extend in long, uninterrupted diagonals across the plaza.
“Seeing and being seen, and being juxtaposed with people who aren’t really like you, is important for fostering tolerance and diversity,” Corner says. “It’s an extraordinarily social form of public life that, in a sense, supports democracy.” He adds that democracy in action takes many forms, noting that while its most dominant and visible form is protest and large assembly, everyday public life is just as vital to democratic health.
Cleveland’s Official Speakers Platform Will Attract an Audience
To accommodate political speech during the convention, Cleveland officials have erected an official speakers platform at the southern end of the park. From this designated spot, individuals will be permitted to deliver 30-minute speeches daily between the hours of 9:30 AM and 6:30 PM throughout the convention.
Paul Wertheimer, founder and head of the Los Angeles-based Crowd Management Strategies, points out that the logistics of this setup will require careful attention from local authorities. “Any sizeable crowd will extend up to, and beyond, the fountain in front of the speakers’ platform,” Wertheimer warns. He suggests that authorities should proactively turn off the fountain to ensure that gatherers have adequate physical space to congregate safely. Given that Public Square is relatively compact, he adds, “there’s a good chance they’ll need the space.”
Unofficial Speakers Platforms Could Attract Audiences, Too
While the official platform provides a sanctioned outlet for speech, urban designers and crowd experts recognize that public spaces must also accommodate the spontaneous and unpredictable nature of political expression.
Corner notes that designing for flexibility is a core tenet of modern landscape architecture. “It’s important to support the unpredictable in public spaces,” Corner says. “I think the best spaces for free speech are the everyday spaces that are designed for generosity, openness, and flexibility.”
To that end, the edges of the park’s central lawn slope gently inward, creating a subtle amphitheater effect at the core of the green space. “It’s really intended for picnics, sitting in the sun, looking on the city,” Corner explains, “but it also lends itself to larger political gatherings and events.”
While city officials have officially forbidden the use of traditional soapboxes and other makeshift podiums, recent revisions to the city’s definition of a “speakers platform” indicate that individuals may utilize preexisting urban objects and topography to exercise their freedom of speech. Wertheimer notes the practical reality of this policy: “If people want to stand on a curb, a bench, or at the top of a grassy hill, they can do it.”
However, this abundance of potential staging areas raises concerns for organizers like Coleridge. He worries that the park’s varied design elements, while aesthetically pleasing, could inadvertently fracture the audience rather than unify it. “Instead of addressing one whole group, you might have three different groups, three different sections, for three different speeches,” he cautions. “It doesn’t lend itself to a single, big event.”
Statues Are Rallying Points
Physical monuments within a public square often take on outsized importance during periods of civic unrest, serving as natural focal points and rallying cries for demonstrators.
Before Public Square’s extensive redesign, a prominent statue of early 20th-century Cleveland Mayor Tom Johnson, located in the plaza’s northwest quadrant, served as a popular gathering point for anti-corporate protests, including months of encampments by Occupy Cleveland. “Johnson was a populist of a guy,” Coleridge recalls. Today, that preserved statue has been relocated to a central position on the north side of the square, situated in front of a significantly larger, more visually attractive, and better-connected public space.
Police Should Be Present, Not Overwhelming
Managing crowd dynamics during a high-profile national convention requires a delicate balance between maintaining public safety and avoiding an overly aggressive security presence that could inflame tensions.
Wertheimer emphasizes the importance of strategic positioning for law enforcement and emergency personnel. He suggests that the large parking lot located directly across the street from Public Square serves as a logical assembly and staging point for Cleveland’s police and fire departments. Furthermore, he argues that officers stationed inside the park should wear non-confrontational uniforms rather than heavy tactical gear. Maintaining an off-site staging area for heavy personnel carriers, vehicles, and specialized riot equipment can go a long way toward keeping public anxieties in check.
Reflecting on local history, Coleridge notes that police in Public Square have historically played a supportive role during times of protest, often assisting demonstrators by stopping traffic even when official marching permits were absent. However, he admits to worrying that law enforcement may adopt a much more rigid posture during the RNC.
“The new Public Square is meant to be a showcase, the crown jewel… I would imagine the police will be particularly vigilant about keeping order,” Coleridge says. The ultimate challenge for the police force, he concludes, will be finding a way to allow citizens—even angry and impassioned ones—to fully express their views without letting situations escalate into violence.
Managing Crowds and Versatility
To prepare for unexpected surges in attendance, safety experts recommend proactive crowd management strategies. Wertheimer notes that if authorities end up drawing larger crowds than anticipated, designated overflow areas will be essential for keeping people safely contained. The roadways surrounding the park could easily serve this purpose. “Authorities may decide to keep at least one side of the park closed off from overflow, or keep one of the surrounding lanes open, as an emergency lane for fire trucks, ambulances, police, and other official vehicles,” Wertheimer suggests.
At the same time, the integration of transportation corridors within the park’s design offers unique opportunities for versatility. Superior Avenue, the street that bisects Public Square, functions primarily as a bus route during normal operations. However, during major civic events, buses can be easily rerouted and the roadway cordoned off to pedestrian use.
“You can imagine tents, festivals, carnivals being used on that space and allowing the two halves of the park to be more unified,” Corner notes.
Because Public Square was not originally engineered specifically to handle prolonged periods of mass political demonstration and public speech, Wertheimer points out that municipal authorities may need to supplement the park’s permanent infrastructure with temporary public amenities. Positioning portable sanitation facilities, hydration stations, and first-aid tents near the center of the park—where they remain easily accessible to both pedestrians and emergency vehicles via Superior Avenue—will be a crucial logistical step in ensuring the safety and comfort of everyone visiting the square during the convention.
