Chicago Plan of 1909
Core idea
Regional boulevards, lakefront, civic center
Why it matters
Comprehensive regionalism in the US
Description
Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett's 1909 Plan of Chicago proposed a comprehensive City Beautiful vision: a continuous lakefront of parks, a civic centre, diagonal boulevards, and grand public spaces, presented in lavish renderings as a coordinated future for the whole metropolis.
Significance
The Plan of Chicago is the landmark of the City Beautiful movement and the model of the grand comprehensive plan. Its lakefront-for-the-people legacy endures, and Burnham's 'make no little plans' became the profession's motto.
What became of it
Only portions were realised, but the plan reshaped central Chicago and the lakefront, with most of the 29-mile shoreline secured as public parkland; enthusiasm for specific proposals faded with the Great Depression.
Critique
Much of the grand civic and street programme was never built, and the plan said little about housing or social conditions for ordinary residents.
What shaped it
- Plan of Chicago (1909)
- The public park (1843–1858)
- The boulevard (17th–19th c.)
- The linear park / greenway (1878 / 2009 revival)
- World's Columbian Exposition (1893)
- Great Chicago Fire (1871)
Plans it influenced
- Los Angeles Olmsted–Bartholomew Parks Plan (1930)
- Chicago GO TO 2040 / ON TO 2050 (2010/2018)
- São Paulo Plano de Avenidas (1930s)
- Chicago Central Area Plan 2003 (2003)
- New Delhi (Lutyens’ Plan) (1911–1931)
- Regional Plan of New York & Its Environs (1929)
Sources
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Plan-of-Chicago
- https://www.architecture.org/online-resources/architecture-encyclopedia/1909-plan-of-chicago