Helping People Improve Their Communities, One Place at a Time
Cities around the world are recognizing that safe, well-used public spaces are just as important to healthy communities and regions as quality housing and reliable transportation. To remain a globally competitive city, Chicago must continue to sustain and enhance all of its public areas. Placemaking Chicago supports the creation and care of public spaces across Chicagoland through policy advocacy, close collaboration with public agencies and elected officials, direct outreach to residents and community organizations, and an active social media and online presence. Through Placemaking Chicago, MPC helps create and enhance public spaces that bring people together and foster healthier, more social, and economically viable communities.
Placemaking Chicago fact sheet
Watch this short video to learn more about Placemaking.
Technical Assistance
Placemaking Chicago provides technical assistance to communities around Chicago. Read about our work to transform the Polish Triangle in the Wicker Park neighborhood, and to engage residents in planning for the proposed CTA Red Line extension on Chicago's South Side.
Advocacy
Safe streets are some of our most valuable public spaces. The Pedestrian Safety Bill makes streets safer by clarifying the responsibility of pedestrians and drivers. With your support, this bill passed through the Senate and was signed by Gov. Quinn this summer.
Collaboration with city agencies
This year, Placemaking Chicago strengthened its partnership with the city by partnering with the Chicago Dept. of Transportation on a series of Complete Streets workshops, the Dept. of Zoning and Land Use Planning on a Placemaking workshop, and hosting a public roundtable on pedestrian friendly public spaces.
Multimedia
2012 Plan for Prosperity: Innovative Solutions for the New Normal-
- Publication
- (1 MB)
- Jan 12, 2012
- To read MPC's 2012 Plan for Prosperity, download the file. The following is MPC President MarySue Barrett's introductory letter.
Sometimes, things aren’t what they seem. For decades, the United States enjoyed what appeared to be boundless economic expansion. Consumers spent and borrowed…
Improving Health Through Planning-
- On Dec. 7, 2011, MPC hosted Improving Health Through Planning, a roundtable addressing the assumptions planners make about the health impacts of planning decisions. Read the full event recap.
Placemaking Chicago-
- A short video on Placemaking, produced in August 2008 by Metropolitan Planning Council and Tu Multimedia.
- The Micro Revolution: Neighbors Making a Difference - Part 2
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- At this MPC roundtable luncheon, Chicagoland residents shared their experiences bringing about positive changes in their school communities, by forging partnerships between parents and school administrators to improve public education and encourage community renewal.
- The Micro Revolution: Neighbors Making a Difference
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- At this MPC roundtable luncheon, Jay Walljasper, author of The Great Neighborhood Book and senior fellow at Project for Public Spaces, discussed lessons learned from real-life stories of successful neighbor-driven improvements. He moderated a panel of motivated residents from the Chicago area who…
More related multimedia »
Links
- Reconnecting America
- Reconnecting America is a national nonprofit working to integrate transportation systems and the communities they serve, with the goal of generating lasting public and private returns, improving economic and environmental efficiency, and giving consumers more housing and mobility choices. More info »
- Streetsblog
- Streetsblog is a daily news source, online community, and political mobilizer for the worldwide Livable Streets movement, working to transform our cities by reducing dependence on private automobiles and improving conditions for cyclists, pedestrians and transit riders. More info »
- Project for Public Spaces
- Project for Public Spaces is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities. Founded in 1975, PPS has become an internationally recognized center for best practices, information, and resources about Placemaking. MPC partnered with PPS to create “A Guide to Neighborhood Placemaking in Chicago.” More info »
More related links »
Drumroll, please! MPC is pleased to announce the winner of our Placemaking apps contest is ... Mi Parque!
Residents of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood on the city’s southwest side are working to transform a 23-acre capped Superfund site into a vibrant, open green space for all of its residents to enjoy and make their own. Now, they have technology on their side: Mi Parque, a web and smartphone application that helps residents of the community contribute and share their vision for the future of Little Village’s new park. The application has won MPC’s $2,500 Placemaking award, sponsored by IBM, in the Apps for Metro Chicago Illinois contest.
Read more about this app on MPC’s blog, The Connector.
Access Mi Parque, which is available in English and Spanish, through the web or a smart phone.
Collaborators
Partners
Project for Public Spaces, New York, NY
Funders
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Prince Charitable Trusts
