Washington Park Planning Project 2004 and 2005

In August 2003, the Chicago Housing Authority requested the assistance of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) City Design Center in developing conceptual plans and design strategies for the Washington Park Public Housing Development. The Washington Park Planning Project began in the Fall of 2003 with a graduate planning studio. The Washington Park Design Education Workshops were the second component of the Washington Park Planning Project and took place in the Fall of 2004. A second studio, this one concentrating on urban design, occurred in the Spring of 2005.

The design workshops, kindly supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, were designed to familiarize former and current Washington Park residents with important principles of housing unit and neighborhood design. The workshops were also designed to increase residents' design awareness in anticipation of any potential redevelopment of the Washington Park communities. Two publications resulted from the Washington Park Planning Project: one from the 2004 design workshops, and a second report from the 2005 urban design studio that also contains an appendix of conclusions from the 2003 urban planning studio.