Prospering in Place: Linking Jobs, Development, and Transit

Tuesday, June 19, 2012 • 5:30 p.m.

Places matter. But for decades the Chicago region disregarded its historic, compact, transit-served neighborhoods in favor of urban sprawl with its dependence on cars and cheap gas. When the economy was growing, the cost of this shift was less apparent, but stagnant incomes, high unemployment, and historic fuel prices have exposed the long term folly of this development strategy. Thanks to congested and deteriorated railways, Chicago lost has thousands of shipping jobs to places like Kansas City and Columbus. Suburban communities outmaneuvered each other to snag retail centers that netted no new job growth and many of which have since disappeared. Jobs and people dispersed — each getting farther away from the nation's second largest passenger train system.

A prosperous future depends on our ability to target investments, both private and public, to the specific places that enjoy those assets. By relying on the measures that comprise location efficiency: residential density, a greater mix of uses and destinations nearby, and ready access to jobs and transit the Chicago region can reintroduce a legacy development pattern with its respectful use of scarce land and energy, appreciation for interaction and community, and a high esteem for the mass transit system that served it so well. María Choca-Urban and Kyle Smith from the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) will present highlights from CNT's new Prospering in Place report, which takes the bold step of identifying those priority locations that can accelerate the region's economic development.

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María Choca-Urban is the Center for Neighborhood Technology's Transportation and Community Development Program Director. She joined CNT in 2008 to lead its initiatives in land use, transportation, housing, and economic development. Prior to joining CNT, Choca-Urban served as the General Manager for Policy and Strategic Solutions at the Chicago Transit Authority where she coordinated staff teams developing a strategic plan for the CTA to implement a system-wide Transit Oriented Development strategy and addressing the CTA's absenteeism problem. She has also served as an Assistant Commissioner for the City of Chicago's Department of Planning under the Washington Administration, directing the department's Neighborhood Planning Division and at Chicago Metropolis 2020, where she worked on transportation issues, including freight transportation with a particular emphasis on the south suburbs, economic development and housing.

Kyle Smith is an Economic Development Project Manager with the Center for Neighborhood Technology. He joined CNT in 2008 as an economic development strategist with expertise in slow growth regions and smaller communities. Smith has shaped CNT's growing focus on transit-oriented development (TOD) and cargo-oriented development (COD), which reutilize legacy transit and freight infrastructure to spur economic activity in older neighborhoods. He provides technical assistance to communities to use CNT's Housing + Transportation Affordability Index to guide planning decisions that integrate land use and transportation planning.

The Legacy of Planning in Mariemont, Ohio, and Riverside, Illinois

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 • 5:30 p.m.

Riverside, Illinois, and Mariemont, Ohio, are two acclaimed examples of early planned communities. Riverside's plan was created in 1869 by Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York City's Central Park, and John Nolen developed the town plan for Mariemont in 1921 as a national exemplar. Both of these pioneer planners were landscape architects who understood that good planning is good business.   

In recognition of their uniqueness and significance, Riverside and Mariemont enjoy a special honor — designation as National Historic Landmarks. In addition, they possess such enviable but often elusive attributes as sense of place, strong community identity, and outstanding quality of life.

After presenting an overview of Olmsted, Nolen, and the two communities, former Mariemont Preservation Foundation president Frank Raeon, AICP, will explain why the design principles used in Riverside and Mariemont merit not only further consideration but potential incorporation into the development patterns and character of communities.

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Frank Raeon, AICP, is a former city planning director for communities in Ohio and California. A geographer by degree, he provides planning and development as well as retail and restaurant site selection consulting services. Frank is a Mariemont resident, the past president of the Mariemont Preservation Foundation, and the primary author of Mariemont's Vision 2021 document.

Future Events

Chicago's Food Plan: A Recipe for Healthy Places
August 28, 2012
Bradley Roback, City of Chicago
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