Jefferson Park Alley Activations
Chicago’s urban fabric has always been characterized by the competing forces of the marvels of engineering and the historically embedded local character of our constantly evolving communities. The Last Mile project aims to activate these forces and expand the idea of infrastructure so as to include both physical and social dimensions while redefining the relationship between structure and agency.
Alley Installation for Chicago Artists Month, 2015, Part of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial
The Good City Group, along with fellow artists and local residents, launched the first of multiple installations and culture walks by taking over an alleyway connecting the Jefferson Park Intermodal Transit Center to the heart of Jefferson Park neighborhood.
Located between 4866 and 4872 N Milwaukee Avenue, we used the alleyway’s horizontal and vertical surfaces to discuss and map routes for culture walks—from Jefferson Park to Forest Glen —from one mode of transportation to another. Directing this discussion at the very center of Jefferson Park, in the outdoor passage and important link that the alley offers, allowed our group to curate genuine engagement that’s both democratic and open. Conversation and design took shape organically as participants brought their own narratives about familiar spaces, people, environment.
Created with support from the office of Alderman Arena (45th Ward), the National Endowment for the Arts, the Graham Foundation, and Chicago Department of Transportation (C-DOT) Make Way for People initiative.
Press
Alley to be ‘urban planning lab’
Urban planning event held in Jefferson Park
Jefferson Park Alley To Be Transformed by Urban Planning Effort
Jeff Fest Alley Installation, 2016
In collaboration with the Northwest Chicago Historical Society and the Jefferson Park Chamber of Commerce, Good City Group beautified an alley that pedestrians use as a shortcut to reach the Jefferson Park Festival from the multimodal Jefferson Park station.
Heading back to the alley between 4866 and 4872 N Milwaukee Avenue, we had an opportunity to create an outdoor temporary exhibition of wheat-pasted historical photographs. The installation was updated a few times over the course of the installation as passersbys commented on the historic photographs that they recognized.
Jefferson Park Farmers Market and Jeff Fest Conversations
The Good City Group’s presence at local events, such as farmers markets and fairs, allowed conversations with community members, neighborhood organizations, businesses, chambers of commerce and the media. This reinforced our role as a facilitator for the development of local urban projects involving a wide range of participants who gave their input on ways to enhance their neighborhood.
Historically viewed as the “Gateway” to Chicago, both Jefferson Park and Forest Glen neighborhoods were truck farming lands at the edge of the city, on the eastern side of the Indian Boundary Line. Decades worth of urban development, heavy handed infrastructural changes and an increase in population with a rich cultural diversity have all contributed to this area’s unique urban fabric. The Jefferson Park Intermodal Transit Center whose scheduled $25 million renovation is in predesign phase, serves more than 2 million commuters annually and the 38,000 residents living in Jefferson Park and Forest Glen directly. The Last Mile’s timely development offered the residents a platform to make their stories heard, to highlight the community’s landmarks, to reveal transportation patterns and needs.
