FORCES INFLUENCING /SHAPING LAND CHARACTERISTICS OR LAND USE PATTERNS
Chicago's locational advantage has been to one of the reason for exploitation by land developers and infrastructure builders over time to produce the land-use pattern of today's metropolis (Mariner 2005). Government sponsorship for the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the marketing of canal lands encouraged the growth of Chicago which in return boosted city’s economy through trade. To support and expand the growth of trade activities, railroads were built which added an impetus. The developing pattern of land use was therefore largely oriented to the canal and rail corridors where warehouses, industries, and housing for canal and railroad workers were located (Mariner 2005).
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, destroyed the city leaving behind the debris. The city was built again with a new hope and 1909 Plan of Chicago by Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennett became the new guideline for the city to develop. Soon, after World War II there was an increase in the housing which gave rise to the subdivision development referred as suburbs. Suburb’s sprawling pattern was possible because of the auto-mobilization and expressways. As discussed in the E. W. Burgess’s “Concentric Ring Model”, the city limits were extending and the land use were changing in the inner city core (Hartshorn 1996).
To respond to the issue of suburbanization, in 1957 the Illinois legislature created the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) as an advisory agency. They prepared a Comprehensive General Plan which was adopted in 1968. NIPC called for concentrating new development largely along the radial commuter lines focused on the Chicago Loop, and for preserving wedges of open space and low-density development between the radial corridors (Mariner 2005). Further, in 1990s the Planners in the northeastern Illinois region called for a new type of development which promotes mixed land use development and which is referred as smart growth. Parkside of Old Town, Chicago has won a ‘National Award for Smart Growth Achievement’ in 2009 (Growth 2010). In 2004, with the inauguration of Millennium Park, land use in the form urban open spaces were redefined.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, destroyed the city leaving behind the debris. The city was built again with a new hope and 1909 Plan of Chicago by Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennett became the new guideline for the city to develop. Soon, after World War II there was an increase in the housing which gave rise to the subdivision development referred as suburbs. Suburb’s sprawling pattern was possible because of the auto-mobilization and expressways. As discussed in the E. W. Burgess’s “Concentric Ring Model”, the city limits were extending and the land use were changing in the inner city core (Hartshorn 1996).
To respond to the issue of suburbanization, in 1957 the Illinois legislature created the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) as an advisory agency. They prepared a Comprehensive General Plan which was adopted in 1968. NIPC called for concentrating new development largely along the radial commuter lines focused on the Chicago Loop, and for preserving wedges of open space and low-density development between the radial corridors (Mariner 2005). Further, in 1990s the Planners in the northeastern Illinois region called for a new type of development which promotes mixed land use development and which is referred as smart growth. Parkside of Old Town, Chicago has won a ‘National Award for Smart Growth Achievement’ in 2009 (Growth 2010). In 2004, with the inauguration of Millennium Park, land use in the form urban open spaces were redefined.
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