book review: Planning Chicago

Planning Chicago, by Jon DeVries and Brad Hunt, calls for a return to big ideas in a city once famous for bold planning. The authors decry the lack of vision and failure to implement that has beset Chicago planning for decades. And they show the maleffects of this...
Calumet area vision

Calumet area vision

During 2005-08, I led a non-profit environmental organization in the industrial Lake Calumet area. The area is covered with huge brown fields left by the disappearance of steel making two decades before. It’s interspersed with slag and degraded marsh lands. The...
Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is one of the world’s great cities but its future isn’t so certain. The 2nd annual Global Cities Forum, held downtown during three days in June, asked many questions about the world’s top cities. Our town stood shoulder to shoulder with the giants and fared...