If there is one major theme to be gleaned from a reading of Carl Smith's The Plan of Chicago¸ it would have to be that Chicago is home to one of the most ambitious efforts ever made in reinventing a city. However, if there is another major theme one could find in relation to the problems that have plagued the city since the plan went into effect, it would have to be that Chicago is a city that is always a day late and a dollar short. Some may criticize this statement as an attack on the city, but that is not my intention as I am proud that I have grown up so close to Chicago.
What I mean in my usage of the phrase "day late and a dollar short," is a reference to the city's longstanding history of curing whatever may ail the city at a given time, only for its inhabitants to realize that it either wasn't enough or that the problem has been eliminated only for citizens to face a new menace, which may have even been a result of the solution to a former problem!
Examples of the former are eminently present today; for example, Chicagoans yet again find themselves lacking the necessary space on the road to fit an ideal amount of automobiles. From what I've gathered in my visits to Chicago (related to and unrelated to USS 300) is that it would be impossible to add any new lanes to most streets without tearing down or severely modifying several buildings. And even if this were possible, there would only be a point in executing such an endeavor if the increased space would decreased congestion for more than a decade or two (being generous). To be sure, there are several Chicagoans who don't use the roads at all, or at least, only for public transportation. Nevertheless, I believe this is an issue that deserves to be addressed and unsurprisingly, many of my classmates have!
In fact, several of my classmates also wrote about topics such as parks, forestry, etc., and while I do agree with their general sentiment that Burnham was onto something positive in his desire for such features to be included in his Chicago, I feel the need to play devil's advocate. If, like most areas, we can expect Chicago's population to continually increase in significant numbers, then maybe the city will reach a point in which parks, forest preserves, and anything that doesn't serve a direct purpose to commerce, transportation, etc., will be considered expendable in favor of making room for more housing and transportation (note: it's a good thing the Civic Center never came to fruition!). Vertical growth could be another remedy to the former problem, but as I recall from our in-class discussion, many find the idea of being blocked off from the sky to be unsettling, and I would be inclined to agree.
At the end of the day, it seems like Chicagoans are in a seemingly inextricable corner in their quest to solve many of their problems as every decision seems to result in a hurt and heal effect. One thing is for certain, if we are to make changes to our city, the changes should have the future in mind, not just the present.
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