When I came to Chicago, it was primarily to learn about how one of the world’s tallest and iconic building was conceived, approved, and being built. Chicago after all is where skyscrapers and lifts were first invented!

I met Michael Jasso, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Community Development (sort of a cross over/hybrid of NSW’s Department of Planning and the Council’s Development Services Unit). He and his colleague Bennet helped me with a Chicago tutorial.

The three fundamental principles that are different in Chicago (and apparently many American major cities) compared to Australian cities are that:

(a) Americans do plan and can “negotiate” on a multi-plot basis (ie a much bigger version than the usually encouraged block consolidation;

(b) a TIF exchange which is basically a City Council form of “financing” using future tax offsets or deferred city revenue; and

(c) proposals are “automatically approved” if it conforms to the zoned requirements (eg 20+ storeys tall, FSR, etc).

With these three in place, development proposals are speedily encouraged, and the City Council can also become a “partner” to the development project for a minimum of 5 years in exchange for stipulated public good like public parks, car parking, public amenities, new and remedial infrastructural works.

Apart from a designated downtown area which is focussed on commercial activity, some of the many things you notice in Chicago include residences within the city centre, 12,000 car parking spaces underneath the city, basic yet wide pedestrian footpaths, mostly one way traffic in a very much grid formatted streets, extremely interesting old and new forms of architecture, as well as an aggressive program of new and existing public parks and public art.

One of the other things you also notice is the ratio of commercial office space to retail space. Even though there appears to be no officially published ratio, the ground and first floor are almost always reserved for street level retail (unless of course it is a shopping centre which is then designated within a particular area). The commercial office space above is then to a factor of around 20:1 as a bare minimum. This gives retailing tremendous opportunity to tap into an existing customer base during the day and night.

While like in Australia, residential development are deemed by Chicago developers as more profitable, the changed economic climate now makes commercial and retail development now more attractive.

Lastly, the culture of Chicago’s Mayor Daley and his 50 Aldermen project a very can-do attitude. And despite local claims of some lack of accountability and transparency, this culture of the Mayor and the Aldermen and the underlying systems on balance gives a high level of assurance towards Chicago’s own future economic viability and overall liveability.

I can’t wait to my next visit to Chicago to learn more.

Click here for selected photos (part 1) on this website.

Click here for selected photos (part 2) on this website.

Click here for the complete album via Facebook.