The Urban Impact of Richard Daley

Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin takes a look back at the legacy of Daley.

"During his 21-year reign, Chicago planted more than 600,000 trees, constructed more than 85 miles of landscaped medians and built more than 7 million square feet of planted roofs--more than any other city in America. New public buildings--schools, police stations and firehouses--were required to meet energy-saving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Foreign correspondents who returned to Chicago after years overseas remarked how much the city had changed, becoming softer, greener, and more post-industrial than the hard-edged city they had left behind.

All that greenery was simply the beginning of Daley's efforts to transform Chicago from a City Functional, where utilitarian concerns were paramount, into a City Beautiful, where quality of life issues carried equal weight."