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," Trump warned at the time. "I think you’d have riots. I’m representing a tremendous… many, many millions of people."
With tens of thousands of people holding sharply opposing political viewpoints set to converge on downtown Cleveland, city officials are looking at the very fabric of the urban landscape to help manage four days of high-stakes protests and marches. Demonstrators representing organizations as disparate as Bikers for Trump and Stand Together to Stop Trump will gather within the same designated Event Zone. Spanning 3.3 square miles, this city-within-a-city enforces strict safety rules: items like tennis balls, flashlights, and water guns are entirely prohibited. Yet, under the protection of Ohio state law, open-air and concealed real firearms will be permitted.
At the epicenter of this political storm—both metaphorically and geographically—stands Cleveland’s newly redesigned and remodeled Public Square, a public park that serves as the official, city-sanctioned location for a dedicated Speakers’ Platform. Designed by renowned landscape architect James Corner, who is perhaps most famous for his work on New York City’s High Line, this immaculate urban plaza is about to be tested on a national stage, fulfilling its purpose as a democratic venue by hosting sustained demonstrations.
The physical architecture and design of a public space inherently inform how people move through and utilize it. To better understand what lies ahead, urban design experts, landscape architects, and veteran organizers have weighed in on how the park’s new layout could influence both protestors and convention attendees. While predicting whether demonstrations will remain peaceful or turn to violence remains an impossible task, Corner believes he has a strong grasp of how people will navigate his creation. Paul Wertheimer, a crowd control expert and the founder and head of Los Angeles-based Crowd Management Strategies, offers his own professional evaluation. Meanwhile, Greg Coleridge, director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee and an organizer with decades of experience protesting in Cleveland, provides a grassroots perspective. Their ideas diverge in several fascinating ways as the convention draws near.
A Good Public Square Promotes People Flow
The old configuration of Public Square featured four distinct quadrants divided by busy vehicular roadways, making it a familiar, if somewhat fragmented, staging area for public marches. According to Greg Coleridge, demonstrators in the past would typically circle one or two of those quadrants before moving on to other parts of the city. While he notes that the new Public Square will not fundamentally alter the established routes of major public marches, he acknowledges that the redesigned space will undeniably affect how crowds form and disperse. The updated design makes it significantly easier for large groups of people to completely encircle the park or walk directly through its center, giving marches a chance to gather momentum and attract broader attention before setting out into the city streets.
To achieve this unification, James Corner’s design team permanently closed one of the roads cutting through the area, reduced the width of the remaining avenue, and wrapped the entire park in what they call a "promenade ribbon." This continuous path encourages visitors to walk effortlessly both around and through the interior of the park. These direct journeys, especially the diagonal pathways cutting across the open green spaces, were entirely unavailable in the previous layout. Corner notes that these pathways are an essential feature for modern urban parks, designed specifically to allow the interactions of a diverse mix of people to genuinely play out.
Visibility Is Good for Democracy
When considering the relationship between architecture and civic engagement, Greg Coleridge points out that traditional circle- and square-shaped civic spaces have historically lent themselves well to public demonstrations. In such symmetrical layouts, everyone can see everyone else, fostering an immediate sense of equality among participants. However, he observes that the newly redesigned Public Square is neither circular nor rectilinear, describing its unique layout instead as an "hourglass." While the new design certainly opens up long sightlines that were absent in the past—particularly along the diagonal axes—large swaths of the park are now punctuated by newly planted trees, flower beds, and architectural gardens that naturally break up the space and limit overall visibility.
James Corner counters that one of the greatest joys of a well-designed public space is the simple, powerful act of people seeing one another across a shared landscape. Among Public Square’s most notable modern features are its primary sightlines, stretching in long diagonals from corner to corner. Seeing and being seen, and being visually juxtaposed with people who hold vastly different worldviews, is vital for fostering social tolerance and urban diversity, according to Corner. He views this as an extraordinarily social form of public life that underpins the very foundation of democracy. At the same time, Corner acknowledges that democratic expression takes many forms, noting that while protest and large assemblies are undeniably prominent and important, democracy also plays out continuously in everyday, routine life.
Cleveland’s Official Speakers Platform Will Attract an Audience
To accommodate the speechmaking that traditionally accompanies political conventions, Cleveland officials have erected an official platform at the southern end of the park. Here, registered speakers will be permitted to deliver 30-minute addresses daily between 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. throughout the convention. Paul Wertheimer warns that any sizeable crowd drawn to these speeches will inevitably spill outward, reaching up to and even beyond the large fountain situated directly in front of the platform. To prevent bottlenecks and ensure that crowds can gather safely, Wertheimer suggests that municipal authorities should turn the fountain off during peak hours. Given that Public Square is relatively modest in overall size, he believes there is a strong probability that every square foot of available space will be desperately needed.
Unofficial Speakers Platforms Could Attract Audiences, Too
Beyond the official platform, landscape architect James Corner emphasizes the importance of supporting the spontaneous and unpredictable nature of public spaces. In his view, the most effective environments for free speech are everyday spaces engineered for generosity, openness, and flexibility. The edges of the park’s central lawn slope gently inward, creating a mild amphitheater effect at the core of the green space. While this layout was primarily intended for everyday leisure—such as sitting in the sun, enjoying a picnic, or simply looking out over the city—Corner notes that it naturally lends itself to larger political gatherings and impromptu events as well.
This potential for spontaneity brings up logistical questions. Although Cleveland officials have officially forbidden the use of traditional soapboxes and other brought-in, makeshift podiums, a recent revision to the city’s definition of a "speakers platform" indicates that individuals may legally utilize preexisting objects and topography to exercise their freedom of speech. If people wish to stand on a concrete curb, a park bench, or at the top of a grassy hill to address a crowd, they are legally permitted to do so, according to Wertheimer.
However, Greg Coleridge expresses concern over this design feature. Because the park is filled with architectural elements that could easily double as impromptu speaking platforms, he worries that crowds will fragment rather than unite. Instead of addressing one cohesive, unified group of listeners, a speaker might find themselves talking to three different segments of a crowd scattered across different sections of the park. In his view, this layout does not naturally lend itself to hosting a single, massive, unified event.
Statues and Symbols as Rallying Points
Physical landmarks within the park also carry historical and practical significance for demonstrators. Prior to the extensive redesign of Public Square, 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 the Occupy Cleveland movement. Coleridge recalls that Johnson was widely viewed as a true populist leader. Today, the carefully preserved statue has been repositioned to the center of the northern side of the square, placed directly in front of an expanded, more visually attractive, and better-connected public space that is primed to attract modern demonstrators.
Police Presence: Balancing Security and Tension
Managing the presence of law enforcement during an event of this magnitude presents a delicate balancing act. While having police officers and firefighters immediately at the ready is a fundamental security requirement, an overwhelmingly heavy-handed police presence can quickly make a peaceful public gathering feel hostile and confrontational. Paul Wertheimer suggests that the parking lot located directly across the street from Public Square serves as a logical, contained assembly point for local police and fire departments. Furthermore, he argues that officers stationed inside the park should be dressed in non-confrontational uniforms, advising against full tactical "Robocop" gear. Establishing an off-site staging area for personnel, vehicles, and heavy riot equipment can go a long way toward keeping simmering public tensions in check.
Reflecting on past experiences, Coleridge notes that local police in Public Square have historically been helpful during protests, occasionally stopping traffic to assist demonstrators even when proper permits for street marches were absent. However, he worries that law enforcement will adopt a much stricter, less accommodating posture during the RNC. Because the newly renovated Public Square is viewed locally as a high-profile civic showcase and a crown jewel of downtown revitalization, Coleridge anticipates that police will be exceptionally vigilant about maintaining strict order. The ultimate challenge for authorities, he notes, will be successfully balancing public safety with the constitutional right of citizens—even angry ones—to express themselves freely without the situation escalating into violence.
Managing Crowd Density and Infrastructure
Should authorities find themselves facing larger crowds than initially anticipated, establishing a designated overflow area will be critical to keeping people safely contained. The wide roadways encircling the park could potentially serve this purpose. Wertheimer suggests that authorities might choose to keep at least one side of the park closed off entirely to absorb overflow crowds, or alternatively, keep one of the surrounding traffic lanes open strictly as an emergency lane designated for fire trucks, ambulances, police cruisers, and other official vehicles.
Addressing the logistical realities of the venue, James Corner points out the inherent versatility built into Superior Avenue, the street that cuts directly through the park. Primarily functioning as a busy bus route on normal days, the street can be entirely rerouted for special occasions, allowing its pathway through the park to be cordoned off. Corner envisions this corridor hosting temporary tents, festivals, and cultural events that temporarily unify the two halves of the park into a single, expansive plaza.
At the same time, Wertheimer reminds planners that Public Square was not originally engineered to support prolonged periods of mass public speaking or continuous protest, meaning that municipal authorities will likely need to supplement the existing infrastructure with temporary public amenities. The center of the park, which remains easily accessible to pedestrians on the square and to emergency response vehicles via Superior Avenue, represents an ideal location for deploying essential temporary facilities such as public restrooms, drinking water stations, and first aid tents.
