Blair Kamin reviews the futuristic showcase, "Big. Bold. Visionary. Chicago Architects Consider the Next Century," curated by architect, Edward Keegan, on the anniversary of Burnham and Bennett's Plan of Chicago.
"One of the reasons the Chicago Plan is celebrated today is that it was carried out piecemeal. We should be grateful that Chicago did not get everything Burnham and Bennett wanted, most notably a gargantuan, domed city hall that anticipated Albert Speer's megalomaniacal visions for Hitler's Berlin.
Plans that accept the framework of the existing city, but transform it, are often preferable to sexy, attention-getting drawings that suggest wholesale change."
"Smart additive architecture is also on display in a design floated by Keith Campbell of the Chicago office of RTKL for a new pier at 18th Street that would serve as a bookend to Navy Pier. Unlike Navy Pier, however, this pier, containing marinas and a farmers market, would be part of the real city, not a tourist trap."
FULL STORY: Chicago in the future

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall
A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work
Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle
Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.
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