CLEVELAND, Ohio - While Cleveland is about to embark on a serious look of what its downtown lakefront could become, Detroit asked that question for its latest new park— and answered it by asking its people.

Before blueprints were drawn for the $80 million Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park that opened Oct. 25, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy turned to residents — sending them to other cities, hosting workshops and inviting schoolchildren to dream up the park’s creatures.

The result is a waterfront designed to feel like it truly belongs to Detroiters, something Cleveland hopes to capture as it starts its own journey for 50 acres around and including the current football stadium site.

The Conservancy dispatched about two dozen residents to Chicago, Philadelphia and New York to gather

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