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The Place Lab digest is a weekly round-up of pertinent news, opinion, investigations, and explorations of the arts, architecture, and city-building in Chicago and beyond.
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Reimagining the Civic Commons
Chicago receives $5MM to revitalize, connect public spaces
Chicago is part of a $40MM national initiative to "Reimagine the Civic Commons." Place Lab and Theaster Gates will act as conveners for the Chicago project, the Chicago Arts + Industry Commons, which has won a $5MM grant to re-energize four of Chicago's sleepy civic assets into new public spaces.
Learn more:
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What Place Lab is digesting
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Creating Sustainable Cities by 'Reimagining the Civic Commons'
Sara Burnett and Larry Fenn, CityLab
Chicago joins Akron, Memphis, Detroit, and Philadelphia (the latter began the pilot in 2015) in the national "Reimagining the Civic Commons" initiative. Thanks to four determined and innovative funders, these cities will have the opportunity to test whether we can integrate communities.
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Stay up-to-date on Place Lab projects, events, news, and happenings with our dedicated blog, SITE.
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Kids at work: Madison is investing in youth employment to address disparities and crime
Abigail Becker, The Cap Times
Madison’s financial commitment to youth employment opportunities has increased from $73,848 to $753,472 in the same time frame. The city’s effort and investment reflect a priority of putting kids to work as a way of addressing not just educational, social and economic disparities, but violence and other crime.
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The lost streets of Chicago (mini-documentary)
Ian Pannell and Darren Conway, BBC News
Ian Pannell and Darren Conway of BBC News made a mini-doc about violence in Chicago. The Chicagoist, in a brief review you can read here, pointed out: "We didn’t get here overnight. From the largest set of school closures in history to the decimating of neighborhood mental health care and other services, to the fact that money gets siphoned from poor neighborhoods to fund pet projects for well connected developers, this crisis has been decades in the making."
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National Funders Boost Culture-Led Neighborhood Development in Chicago
Staff article, Chicago Commnuity Trust
The CCT reflects on Chicago's Cultural Plan, culture-driven work happening on the South Side, and the strength of artists in helping shape public life: "Queen Victoria recognized the power of artists, warning: 'Beware of artists. They mix with all classes of society and are therefore most dangerous'."
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After hunger strike, Dyett reopens as arts-focused neighborhood high school
Marwa Eltagouri and Juan Perez Jr., Chicago Tribune
A first day of school at Dyett wasn't supposed to have happened this fall. But after a yearslong protest by community leaders that included a 34-day hunger strike, Chicago Public Schools reversed its decision to close Dyett at the end of the 2014-15 school year.
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Miss last Friday's edition of the digest? Read it in the archives here.
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Announcing South by South Lawn: A White House Festival of Ideas, Art, and Action
Jason Goldman, The White House blog
On Monday, October 3, we’re celebrating the spirit of innovation with the first-ever White House South by South Lawn....South by South Lawn, an event inspired by South by Southwest, will bring together creators, innovators, and organizers who work day in and day out to improve the lives of their fellow Americans and people around the world.
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From our bookshelf:
Engaging Queenslanders:
A guide to community engagement
methods and techniques
by Queensland Government
Read it here
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Natalie Moore: Whole Foods, Obama Center raise hopes, questions
Opinion, Chicago Sun-Times
Natalie Moore, author of The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation, and Place Lab's Isis Ferguson had a conversation about (re)development, gentrification, whitewashing, agency, skepticism, and willingness.
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How night mayors are proving the economic and cultural value of robust nightlife
Patrick Sisson, Curbed
While nightlife often gets stigmatized and undervalued, progressive club coalitions and night mayors are making an economic and cultural argument for a vital after-hours economy
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A tale of two districts: In economic recovery, some schools left behind
Sara Burnett and Larry Fenn, The Christian Science Monitor
The disparities seen in two Illinois school districts are emblematic of a growing rich school, poor school divide seen in many US communities...Stevenson, mostly white, is flush with resources. The high school has five different spaces for theater performances, two gyms, an Olympic-size pool and an espresso bar. Meanwhile Waukegan, with its mostly minority student body, is struggling. At one school, the band is forced to practice in a hallway, and as many as 28 students share a single computer.
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