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Connecting People and Place Prosperity in Chicago's University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Urban and Regional Planning MUP ’16 – Capstone Report Chicago’s Near North neighborhood, best known as the former site of the Cabrini-Green public housing project, has been an area of contrasts between wealth and poverty for over 100 years. In 2015 a court settlement was reached between Cabrini-Green residents and the Chicago Housing Authority, clearing a path for the construction of 1,800 new affordable housing units in the neighborhood as part of a larger mixed- income community1. Concurrently, several high- and mid-rise condominium developments have been built on the neighborhood’s periphery with more scheduled for construction in coming years. Within the context of this significant change, this document posits a variety of strategies to integrate a new character of built form into the Near North while remaining attentive to the needs of long-term neighborhood residents and incoming public housing residents. This document consists of three sections composed with a goal of providing an understanding of the neighborhood’s past and offering strategies for future improvements to the neighborhood’s physical structure and the systems that serve its residents. Section One attempts to develop an historical context for the Near North of 2016 through a review of the neighborhood’s history and how the neighborhood’s relative isolation from the success of the city around it has led to the state of change in which the neighborhood exists today. Section Two centers on the work of the University of Illinois at Urbana’s Chicago Studio, an interdisciplinary, five-member collaboration between the Illinois School of Architecture and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, whose goal was to develop an urban design- based vision for the Near North of the future based on input from existing neighborhood stakeholders and a range public and private sector professionals. Section Three builds on the recommendations of Section Two, offering strategies for connecting economic growth Figure 1. 57% of all jobs in Chicago are located within in the Near North to enhanced workforce development two miles of the Near North, making it an attractive systems that offer potential to better connect low and location for both private real estate development and workforce development programs that connect in- middle-skill job seekers to professional development and need residents to the city’s labor market. (Source: skill acquisition in emerging industry sectors that offer Bureau of Labor Statistics) potential for improved long-term economic outcomes. 1 This settlement effectively signaled the conclusion of a nearly two-decade-long legal battle between the Housing Authority and former residents of the Cabrini-Green housing project EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 4 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 6 PLACE-BASED VERSUS PEOPLE-BASED DEVELOPMENT ................................................................. 6 SECTION 1. HISTORY: THE GOLD COAST AND THE SLUM ..................................................... 9 EARLY YEARS .............................................................................................................................. 9 “LITTLE HELL” ........................................................................................................................... 10 SLUM CLEARANCE ..................................................................................................................... 11 EARLY YEARS OF PUBLIC HOUSING ............................................................................................ 12 URBAN RENEWAL ...................................................................................................................... 13 THE RISE AND FALL OF CABRINI-GREEN ..................................................................................... 14 REDEVELOPING CABRINI-GREEN ................................................................................................ 15 THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN THE NEAR NORTH ............................................................. 17 THE NEAR NORTH IN 2016.......................................................................................................... 17 SECTION 2. TOWARD PLACE-BASED PROSPERITY: LAND USE AND URBAN DESIGN ......... 18 BLOCK STUDY ............................................................................................................................ 19 LAND OWNERSHIP ..................................................................................................................... 21 ZONING..................................................................................................................................... 23 DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................... 25 EXISTING PLANS ........................................................................................................................ 27 REAL ESTATE MARKET ............................................................................................................... 28 RECONNECTING TRANSIT .......................................................................................................... 30 ADDRESSING THE CONCERNS OF LONG-TIME RESIDENTS ........................................................... 31 CHICAGO STUDIO RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................... 32 SECTION 3. TOWARD PEOPLE-BASED PROSPERITY: WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT .......... 39 PUBLIC HOUSING AND EMPLOYMENT ........................................................................................ 39 DEFINING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................................... 40 CHICAGO’S DIVIDED LABOR MARKET ......................................................................................... 42 SPATIAL DYNAMICS OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE NEAR NORTH ...................................................... 43 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT IN CHICAGO: KEY EXAMPLES ......................................................... 46 MEASURING THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT IN CHICAGO .................... 48 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND TIF ........................................................................................ 50 STRATEGIES FOR CONNECTING PEOPLE TO JOBS IN CHICAGO .................................................... 52 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 53 Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 55 I would like to express gratitude to those who assisted in the preparation of this document: to Urban and Regional Planning Professor Bumsoo Lee who served as my advisor from Fall 2015 through May 2016 and whose input was integral in moving this document to its final draft, to Urban and Regional Planning Department Professor Marc Doussard, whose guidance and input on this document’s third section was invaluable, to Professor Kevin Hinders of the Illinois School of Architecture whose tireless work throughout the Fall Semester made the Chicago Studio a rewarding experience, and to Department of Urban and Regional Planning Department Head Rob Olshansky whose effort in facilitating my role as the lone urban planner in the Chicago Studio was critical to my success. Further, I would like to thank my colleagues in the Chicago Studio: Jake Eble, Jordan Nash, Bill Smarzewski, and Sarah Turner, who taught me a great deal about architecture and whose creativity and hard work made our collaboration a rewarding experience. Additionally, I would like to thank the numerous professionals who contributed their input to the final plan recommendations in section two. Lastly, I would like to offer profound gratitude to my family, whose positivity and support throughout my career at the University of Illinois has been a consistent source of encouragement. Figure 2.The Near North’s location within Chicago and the surrounding region Within the context of urban planning, the Near North offers a confounding case. On one hand, the neighborhood’s proximity to the Loop and access to and from the neighborhood itself make it an intuitive site for considerable economic development focus in an era in which Chicago’s standing as an elite global city2 makes it an attractive location for people and businesses both locally and internationally. Despite this geographic advantage, the Near North remains burdened with a legacy of social malady, and the impacts of failed public housing policy and isolation from more economically prosperous areas surrounding it remain today. Issues of transportation, housing policy, and economic development permeate through the planning process today, and a plan that comprehensively addresses each of these topics is outside the scope of a singular planning organization. Numerous plans have been drafted for the neighborhood, and the Near North remains a priority for policy makers. The purpose of this document is to produce a survey of neighborhood’s historical
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