Welcome to Spring 2021 – Season 10
How do we imagine more inclusive and meaningful planning and visioning processes for historically disinvested neighborhood corridors?
Oftentimes, typical planning and engagement processes are rushed and provide little space for reflection and acknowledgment of historic inequities, as well as the impact of harm and trauma caused by systemic racism – mostly impacting communities of colors. On the other hand, these same communities have also seen one planning effort after another without a clear accountability or implementation framework resulting in plan documents that stay on the shelf or without tangible outcomes causing planning fatigue and feeling of hopelessness. In short, processes where communities don’t feel their own. At City Open we believe that planning and design processes should be opportunities to connect past, present and future while supporting and strengthening communities' capacity of self-determination.
This season City Open Workshop will focus on the Madison Street commercial corridor on Chicago’s West Side – East Garfield Park. Inspired by recent reporting from ProPublica Illinois Disinvested that documents decades of targeted disinvestment in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, City Open Workshop will dedicate its Spring 2021 season to develop research, strategize outreach and engagement methods, include individual and institutional storytelling, and explore creative documentation among others to collaboratively frame a community visioning process for Madison Street.
This season is hosted in partnership with AIA Chicago.
Click here to visit Spring 2021 Season.
