A profile of a farmer that appeared in Illinois Issues, April 2003. Growing Change portrays a farmer who's struggle with nature to conserve his soil is much easier than his struggle with commodity markets.
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At the City’s Edges
A guest essay appearing in Illinois Issues, October 2000, in which I call for a regional dialogue on farmland, to consider farmland as land, which in those days of booming development was unlikely. I argue for farmland at the city's edges.
Stretching the Boundaries
An article published in Planning Magazine, January 2002, corresponding with the annual planning conference, which was in Chicago that year. I summarize efforts of the many (too many) groups with their hand in the regional planning arena, in Stretching the Boundaries
Island Grove Afternoon
A ‘first person’ essay, Island Grove Afternoon was published in Illinois Issues, November, 2001. Alvin later told me he thought the story needn’t seem so sad. My original text, more complete, follows…
A Different Kind of Recovery
An article about the ideas of designer William McDonough was published in Conscious Choice in April, 2002 . Read A different kind of recovery Conscious Choice, April '02
Sustainable Suburbia
This article, subtitled The Beauty and the Promise of Conservation Design, appeared in Conscious Choice in April, 2001. Read Sustainable suburbia Conscious Choice, April '01
In memoriam – Bill Lavicka
Bill Lavicka was one of those rare fearless people that every democracy needs. He was the indispensable ingredient, the spice that brightens up the dish. There was no dull moment with Bill around…
Requiem for Maxwell Street
The Final Days of Maxwell Street… It’s hard to believe, but a little bit of Maxwell Street still stands in 2001. The city and UIC have done away with most of it…
Images of Calumet
In 2007, I was director of a small environmental advocacy organization in Chicago… So in early spring that year, friend Greg Lochow and I set out to make a couple short films about the southeast side, the so-called Calumet area…
Beyond Burnham
I am coauthor with Joe Schwieterman of Beyond Burnham, An Illustrated History of Planning for the Chicago Region (Lake Forest College Press, 2009). I began writing the book in late 2004 while on a US State Dept. fellowship in Sâo Paulo, Brazil. It was there, during fall '04 (spring in Brazil) that I finally found leisure to begin the book after years of work at NIPC. I was filled with frustration from five years of toil on a regional plan that still was unfinished. In Sâo Paulo, I was far enough away from it to reflect, to gather some...
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