‘Suburbia’ has gained a negative connotation through criticisms of its car-dependency, diminished sense of community and environmental impact. Massive parking lots, strip malls, limited sidewalks and ‘cookie-cutter’ neighborhoods have all become synonymous with the American suburb.

In spite of the challenges of living in suburban America, the community of Plain Township has taken incremental steps to achieve a balance between the quiet appeal of the suburbs and the accessibility of the city.

Plain Township has strived to incentivize recreational activity via the establishment of parks scattered across the region. 

 “The Plain Township Parks and Recreation Department currently totals 102 acres which includes Al Leno, Diamond, and Veterans Parks,” according to the official website of the Plain Township Parks Department. 

The presence of these parks addresses concerns regarding the suburbs’ availability of green space and outdoor activity. Furthermore, with Plain being an hour south of downtown Cleveland, the necessity of constructing parks within the suburbs is even greater.

 “The suburbs of a great many urban areas have failed to add parkland to meet their own needs, and instead rely on the older parks of the central city,” according to the American Planning Association.

In other areas of development, Plain is home to a central shopping center in Oakwood Square. Oakwood and the surrounding businesses serve as economic and social hubs for Plain and its residents. For instance, Oakwood Square has witnessed a variety of additions within the past several years, including the most recent edition of an amphitheater.

“(The amphitheater is) helping us create that central community or point of focus where folks can come out and congregate. … We haven’t historically had that in Plain Township,” said Plain Trustee Scott Haws in a statement to the Canton Repository.

This central shopping and entertainment hub allows for broader engagement in community building, something that many suburbs have not had in great excess.

In addition to promoting infrastructure, recreation and community engagement, Plain has also observed vast improvements in the areas of public transportation through busing.

“More than 2.1 million times each year seniors, people with disabilities, students, families, veterans, and commuters use SARTA to meet their transportation needs,” according to the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority.

SARTA public transit allows for mobility within Plain Township as well as the surrounding Stark County area, and provides a cheaper and efficient alternative to a car. Since 1997, it has served millions of people and has made public transportation an option for residents across the area.Since Plain Township’s population boom in the 1950s, it had rapidly transitioned from a rural Northeastern Ohio community to a modern suburban populace, with much of its development coming within the last two decades. 

Plain’s efforts to combine dense urbanism with the rural appeal it always held has certainly come with challenges, especially given the traditional suburban city planning that had already taken root across the nation. Nonetheless, Plain continues to assimilate core urban features into a historically suburban setting, ultimately creating a vibrant balance that residents of all preferences can appreciate.