A proposed hotel, apartment and retail complex right across from Chicago's Wrigley Field has many in the city up in arms about what they fear will be just another shopping mall ruining the area's urban feel. But those fears are unfounded.
Architecture critic Blair Kamin says the new development proposed near the ballpark -- dubbed Wrigleyville -- doesn't have the suburban banality many of its opponents are fighting to keep out of their neighborhood.
"In reality, the proposed development, which is called Addison Park on Clark, has few attributes of car-oriented suburbia. It is not - repeat, not - a mall. The real issue is what sort of urban character is heading Wrigleyville's way. Will the design respect the neighborhood's edgy vitality? Or will it give us something like the banal Chicago of the North Bridge retail district, where one beige-colored, concrete-faced monstrosity lines up against another.
The $100 million proposal, which was designed by Chicago architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz for M&R Development in partnership with SAS Equities, isn't that bad."
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City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.