Winter 2002

Dumb Growth

Continuing our current trends will lead to greater traffic
congestion, loss of open space, polluted air,
and economic barriers.

photo: Metropolitan Planning Council, Ron Schramm

number of groups have been working in this region to develop plans for transportation, sensible growth, even biodiversity conservation. Chicago WILDERNESS shall cover all these initiatives over time, discussing especially their effects on the region’s biodiversity and quality of life. In this issue, we address The Metropolis Plan for Growth and Transportation being prepared by Chicago Metropolis 2020, chicagometropolis2020.org.

In the early 1900s, The Commercial Club of Chicago commissioned architects Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett to create a plan for the Chicago region. Their vision, what became known as the Burnham Plan, was issued in 1909. Though not all of Burnham’s suggestions were implemented, his vision for an outer belt of green parks and preserves ringing the city fostered the establishment of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County in 1915 and is the primary reason we have the protected natural areas today that comprise Chicago Wilderness.

Typical suburbia looks green, but residents spend most of their time on the highway.

Photo: OpenLands Project

In the mid-1990s, however, the business leaders of The Commercial Club recognized that for the Chicago region to remain economically and socially vibrant, a new plan and vision were needed. Hence, the release in 1999 of a report called Chicago Metropolis 2020: Preparing Metropolitan Chicago for the 21st Century.

Since then, Chicago Metropolis 2020 – a non-profit offshoot of The Commercial Club comprised of business leaders and representatives of labor, government, faith-based groups and other civic organizations, including Chicago Wilderness – has developed a computer model to evaluate regional development alternatives for the six counties of northeastern Illinois. (Though the maps – see links below – only display the six-county metropolitan area of the Chicago region, Chicago Metropolis 2020 and we in Chicago Wilderness recognize a much larger, interdependent region stretching from southeastern Wisconsin to the Indiana dunes region. The Chicago Wilderness map, see page 31, shows the protected natural areas in this region that harbor most of the significant biological communities.) The map shows the six-county Chicago region today.

Smart Growth

Clustered development near trains and transit.
Such alternatives may benefit both cities and suburbs –
restoring open lands and sustaining the economy.

Photo: OpenLands Project

ne scenario for the region’s growth and development is, of course, “business as usual.” This means that over the next 30 years, growth of housing, transportation, jobs, and population continues as it has in the past – essentially uncontrolled without much coordination on a regional scale. Study the map on page 15 – that’s what “business as usual” would look like if current trends continue and no policies are markedly changed. Note that new residential development dramatically consumes natural and agricultural lands on the fringes of our present already-developed footprint.

It takes some adjustment to use trains and buses, but people get more quality time.

Photo: Sustain, John Beske

But the salient message of The Metropolis Plan for Growth and Transportation and many of the other plans being framed for this region is this: it doesn’t have to be this way. There are other scenarios, ones that may result in better quality of life and a more attractive region to live and work, but they require energy, foresight, and action, individually and collectively. One action is the thought experiment we present here.

Click here for some facts to help you frame your choices and a map to help you envision the consequences of those choices.

By 2030, the population of northeastern Illinois is expected to grow by 1.5 million people, primarily from natural growth, not migration. Where will these new residents live and how will they get to work?

If we don’t want increased traffic congestion, decreased air quality, loss of scenic landscapes and farmland, decreases in water quality, and poorer habitat for plants and animals, we will need to craft and influence policies that promote cluster developments, mass transit, in-fill, habitat protection, and so forth. Go to: http://www.chicagometropolis2020.org/cw_form.htm to begin to register your views on these topics.

What is your vision for the future of this region, our collective home? YOU be the planner.

–Debra Shore