Whoever our next mayor will be, he or she has pretty big shoes to fill. Meigs Field and parking meters snafus aside, there’s no doubt that Daley had a ginormous role to play in much of Chicago’s success. In his new book Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Use Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier, Harvard Economist Edward Glaeser takes a detailed look at what makes some cities great and others not so great. He writes about the whole spectrum of city economics, from how improved public transportation increases poverty, to how urban environments are better for the well-being of both people and nature, to his research against investing huge amounts of infrastructure to climbing cities. Glaeser has been researching, studying and writing about the economics of cities for 20 years, and Triumph of the City blends much of that research with anecdotes and history across 10 chapters, which are further subdivided in easy-to-digest subchapters. more ›

Fifty years ago today a stretch of interstate over seventeen miles long opened, connecting the Loop with O'Hare Airport by cutting through the heart of the Northwest Side. The Kennedy Expressway has since become one of the busiest highways in Illinois, and one that draws the ire of motorists on an hourly basis. more ›

The city announced yesterday that they're going to tear down three of the final four buildings in the Michael Reese Hospital campus, including the main hospital building. In announcing the teardown, the Public Building Commission said that the structure was too dangerous to leave standing. The campus's parking structure and hospital administration building are also slated for demolition. more ›

Back in 1989 urban planners proposed a plan to develop the South Loop into an arts community that would provide fixed affordable housing for artists alongside studios, galleries, and performance spaces. At the time, a decline in manufacturing and warehousing business in the area north and west of the Chicago River had opened up an abundance of cheap loft space that seemed suited for working artists and galleries. more ›

New Geography, a new site "devoted to analyzing and discussing the places where we live and work," is feature Chicago stories this week, and they're really interesting. more ›

Chicago is a city full of iconic imagery. From its skyline and architecture, to its beaches and boulevards, to its trains and neighborhoods, take one look at any of those and you know that you're looking at home. The Maxwell Street Market once deserved to be listed among all those other landmarks. These days, Maxwell Street itself is unrecognizable. All traces of its open market glory were buried long ago by urban planning and the... more ›

What's Up With the Diagonals? more ›

Chicagoist seems to be rapidly developing a weekly feature here called “Cool Pictures From John.” Last week it was the Sun-Times Demolition Derby and this week it’s a series of screencaps from the recently-released-on-DVD I, Robot. The movie takes place in Chicago in the year 2035. Apparently, this city’s in for quite the architectural boom over the next generation, the west side in particular (guess there’s a reason for that Circle Line after all!). Ah... more ›