The Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF) engaged ESI and Equitable Cities Collaborative to design and implement a pilot project focused on improving coordination between Baltimore City and Baltimore County in the planning and revitalization of commercial corridors that cross jurisdictional lines. The project focused on two corridors, Liberty Road/Liberty Heights and Belair Road, with the goal of assessing current conditions, identifying shared challenges and opportunities, as well as proposing actionable strategies for equitable development. The project also sought to establish a replicable framework to guide future city-county planning efforts across additional shared corridors.
The pilot followed a structured, multi-phase approach beginning with a review of previous plans and demographic data to establish baseline corridor conditions. The team conducted market assessments, fieldwork, and extensive stakeholder engagement, which included 13 interviews, two corridor walking tours, and two large community forums. Community-informed insights were integrated throughout the process, ensuring that findings reflected the lived experience, and shaped the strategy recommendations.
Stakeholder engagement was central to the pilot’s methodology. Input was gathered from residents, local business owners, civic leaders, and public agencies through interviews, tours, and forums held on-site in each corridor. The project was guided by the Executive and Steering Committees, which included representatives from the Baltimore City and County Departments of Planning, the Mayor’s Office, Baltimore Community Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, and other regional partners.
The pilot produced a set of strategic recommendations organized around physical, institutional, and community-driven efforts, aligned to varying levels of feasibility and potential impact. The final recommendations offered City and County planning departments and BCF a phased roadmap for collaborative investment. Strategies included cross-jurisdictional corridor management, shared branding and beautification campaigns, safety and walkability improvements, business attraction, and cultural programming. The project helped define roles for a potential coordinating entity and identified near-term pilot projects to demonstrate impact and build trust.
The project established a clear structure for institutionalizing cross-jurisdictional planning, recommending the formation of permanent task forces, shared communication platforms, and coordinated grant funding mechanisms. Designed to be a replicable model, the pilot approach can be applied to Baltimore’s 14 identified cross-border corridors and has catalyzed conversations around co-investment in shared infrastructure, housing stabilization, and cultural preservation. It is anticipated that follow-up initiatives will include implementation pilots, further engagement, and funding alignment efforts in both Liberty and Belair corridors.
