CHICAGO REGIONAL PLANNING:

KAYJATTA

Introduction:

Chicago, no doubt, is one of the world’s leading economic engines.  It is the largest city in the Great Lakes region. Home to the massive 89 story, 2,600,000 sq ft ‘Trump Tower Chicago’ developed by the real estate mogul, Donald Trump; and the unfinished 150-story, 2000 foot ‘Chicago Spire’ by architect Santiago Calatrava, Chicago has 12 of the Fortune 500 companies. The economy of Chicago depends largely on finance, transportation, distribution, manufacturing, and food processing. Chicago has vast natural resources including Lake Michigan (part of the Great Lakes ecosystem) for drinking water and recreation. Its infrastructure and parks systems bear the legacies of highly acclaimed planners and landscape architects such as David Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted.

Organization:

The Chicago Metropolitan Area Plan (CMAP) is the blueprint document that guides growth of the metropolitan Chicago area into the future, up to the year 2040. It is a merger of two main area plans: the North East Planning Commission (NEPC) and the Chicago Area Transportation Plan. The North East Planning Commission was a land use and environment plan while the Chicago Area Transportation Plan was, as the name implies, a transportation plan. So CMAP covers all of transportation, land use, and environmental planning. It is a comprehensive plan. Its Executive Director is none other than Randy Blankenhorn, a veteran of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). CMAP is responsible for the implementation of the Chicago Regional Plan.

The plan is structured in two documents: a full length one for experts and a shorter version for the public. It is divided into four main parts:

1.      Livable communities

2.      Human capital

3.      Efficient government

4.      Regional mobility

Livable communities:

Livable community is a subjective concept deeply rooted in a “place concept” -what a place is and what it should be. Nonetheless, there is considerable agreement that a livable place is one that is: safe, healthy, walkable (pedestrian-friendly), bikable (bike-friendly), has options for transportation (buses, rail, transit, automobile …), accessible to jobs and schools, and cost-effective.

Currently, Chicago has limited transportation options. Many residents are compelled to drive cars which are costly and increase pollution and urban congestion. Housing and jobs are far apart thereby constraining minorities, seniors, and other low-income residents access to employment and educational facilities. Access to parks and recreation is also limited. Land use and resource use are under pressure thereby worsening environmental problems of water pollution, water depletion, and climate change.

The comprehensive plan seeks to address these issues by adopting the concept of “Green Infrastructure”: water and energy conservation, sustainable local foods, and maintaining and improving on the David Burnham park system.

Human capital:

This aspect of the Chicago Comprehensive Regional Plan puts emphasis on quality labor force. A well educated skilled work force is important to achieve economic prosperity by attracting and keeping businesses. This is important for Chicago’s future both regionally and globally. This is to be achieved by:

·         providing good education and skills training

·          combating inequality in education and healthcare based on income, race and ethnic disparities

·         Linking researchers and entrepreneurs to fuel the generation, recycling, and exchange of knowledge to promote necessary innovation and economic growth.

·         Collaboration with cluster companies to achieve competitive advantage over other regions.

Efficient government:

Another major goal of the Chicago regional Plan is to make government, at all levels, responsive to the needs of the people. Transparency, accountability, openness and accessibility must not only remain catch words, but also the rules of the game. Additionally, access to information and government data, fair and simplified tax policy as well as coordination of investment and service delivery among local, regional and federal levels will go a long way in reducing government waste.

This, it is expected, will improve local control, better decision making, and trust in government.

Regional mobility:

Modern transportation for easy and rapid movement of people and goods is a prerequisite for economic growth and good quality of life. Fortunately, transportation is one of the advantages of the Chicago area. However, that is no cause for complacency. Years of disinvestment and inadequate maintenance has left Chicago with an aging infrastructure whose competitive edge in transportation could become seriously challenged in the near future.

The Chicago Regional Plan commits to the maintenance and modernization of the transportation infrastructure into a “world class” status through increased investment. High speed rail and rapid transit at the regional scale; as well as pedestrian side-walks and bike routes at the neighborhood scale, will improve mobility significantly.

Comparison to Kansas City:

The goals of the Chicago regional Plan are in many ways similar to the goals set out in the Comprehensive plan for Kansas City, the FOCUS Plan. Although the Chicago regional seems to be more detail, aggressive and better organized and coordinated than that of Kansas City, both plans address common issues: transportation, land use, regional connectivity, investment, environment, and so on…

One of the key differences between Kansas City and Chicago is that while Chicago is heavily congested, Kansas City has the problem of decongestion or low density. The lack of density or congestion in much of Kansas City is a huge hindrance to mass transit or effective public transportation development. Also unlike Chicago, perhaps the political will to tackle the tough questions- disparities in race, ethnicity, income, education, etc may be lacking.

One of the comprehensive plans in Kansas City is the FOCUS PLAN (the Forging Our Comprehensive Urban Strategy) a 25 year plan beginning in 1992 in order to prepare and well position Kansas City as a model of a “new kind of American city”.  Kansas City (FOCUS PLAN) appears to have a regional outlook similar to the Chicago Regional Plan. The FOCUS PLAN was created with intense consultation with diverse groups of citizens and neighborhoods.  However, the media blitz and the vigorous online campaign characteristic of Chicago was unheard of in Kansas City.

The Kansas City FOCUS PLAN aims to achieve similar goals as the Chicago regional Plan. Among these goals are:

·         To revitalize and energize the urban core as a place for residence, work, business, entertainment, and learning..

·         To promote quality suburban development in terms of connectivity.

·         Ensure environmental sustainability by managing and responsibly using natural resources..

·         Create jobs for the future by increasing opportunities in technology, education, culture, and the arts for everyone and especially for the underprivileged population.

·         To attract financial investments.

·         To build a bottom-up government responsive to the needs of citizens.

PLANNING THEORY:

The Chicago Regional Plan is a comprehensive plan, and partly a derivative of the 1909 Plan developed by the Commercial Club of Chicago. A comprehensive plan is a broad-based planning model often utilized by local governments to plan executes many development goals such as transportation, land use, housing, education, healthcare, and so on over a long period of time. It often has a regional approach, and seeks an integrated harmonious urban system. This model is often criticized for its over-reach and inefficiency. It is often difficult to implement and inadequately represented by citizens. The Chicago Regional Plan, in accordance with comprehensive planning, is quite an ambitious plan encompassing transportation, land use, housing, environment, education, and freight; over a 30 year period (2040). The Plan’s vision also has a regional context including 7 counties and 284 communities with emphasis on regional mobility. The plan intends also to position Chicago strategically within the competitive global economy. The plan has a regional vision essential to the overall health of the region in terms of ecological and political units. The plan espouses regional concepts such as “regional learning, shared destiny, and collective action”.  The goals of the plan, therefore, transportation, housing, education, healthcare, environment, freight, and land use; are all planned in this regional framework.

However, Chicago has many challenges. With a population of 8 million, Chicago is the third most congested metropolitan city in the region, and is projected to add between 2 and 8 million more people in the next 30 years. Therefore, some of the biggest concerns that need urgent attention and the Chicago regional Plan hopes to address (purpose) are:

·         Transportation- how to move people and goods around.

·         Housing- how to provide affordable working class housing that preserve the architectural integrity for the city’s teeming population.

·         Interconnectedness- how to integrate the different counties and communities of Chicago with one another and with the region as a whole.

·         Environment- how to provide and sustain quality water supply, sustainable land use (green spaces and parks), alternative energy.

·         Sprawl-to properly manage the rapid suburbanization.

·         Population increase- to stabilize and mange the rapid population increase.

·         Globalization- to advantageously position the city strategically within the regional and global economy.

In addition to comprehensive planning, there are elements of critical, ethical, and advocacy planning approaches. In terms of critical theory, the Chicago regional Plan emphasizes knowledge and action and views political power as dependent on communication-effective communication. The plan hopes to improve government efficiency by improving on transparency, accountability, collaboration, and sharing of information and data; similar to the four components of communication, namely: comprehensive, sincerity, legitimacy, and truthfulness. Sharing of information and data by both experts and citizens could enhance participation as argued in Dr. Wagner’s paper, “Digital Media and the Politics of Disaster Recovery in New Orleans”. The plan aspires to give Chicago a new beginning-a “clean slate”- a concept enshrined in critical planning thought.

The Chicago Regional Plan is also cognizant of racial, ethnic, and income disparities, and seeks to address them in its educational, housing, healthcare and transportation policy. The plan showcases individual stories of members of the minority communities to argue for the need for reform in housing, transportation, education, and healthcare. This approach is consistent with advocacy planning.

References:

1.    Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning; Davidoff, P. (1965)

2.    Critical Theory in Planning; Forrester, J. (1980)

3.      Digital Media and the Politics of Disaster Recovery in New Orleans (Dr. Wagner, J  2010)

4.    Critical Theory in Planning (Forrester, J  1980)