UPP506 ZHANG
UPP 506 Plan Making (Workshop)
Spring 2008
Wednesdays, 9:00 am to 12:00 noon
ADH 2232 and Design Studio (2nd fl, CUPPA Hall)
Instructor: Tingwei Zhang, PhD
E-mail: tzhang@uic.edu
Office phone: 312-355-0303, Office hour: by appointment
Course description
As one of the three workshop sessions of the UPP 506 Plan Making (Workshop), this lab
session introduces students with plan making skills from scenario generation, problem
courseanalysis to conceptual plan formulation.
Chicago’s Near Northwest Side is the course’s study area. Chicago Metropolis 2020
wants to ensure the Chicago region flourishes long into the future. The Metro 2020
sponsors are especially concerned that the combination of increasing energy costs (a
barrel of oil exceeding $300 in 2040) and environmental crisis affects the prospects for
urban revitalization within metropolitan areas. They wonder whether existing urban
neighborhoods already well served by alternative transportation modes and higher
building densities could provide an attractive sustainable alternative to more popular auto
dependent neighborhoods on the region’s edge. If so, what changes in physical, social
and institutional relationships need take place to foster more sustainable urban
neighborhood?
Three consulting firms, including ours have contracted with Chicago Metropolis 2020 to
conduct 30-year scenario planning for the same neighborhood. Each has 16 weeks to
develop and assess three or more detailed scenarios as part of a sustainable neighborhood
plan. The team that develops the best plan will be awarded the 2008 UPP Workshop
Prize.
This session especially focuses on physical improvement issues, including open space
and the revitalization of Chicago Avenue commercial corridor for the future needs of the
Near Northwest Side community.
The Near Northwest Side encompasses the northwest Loop (Fulton River District),
Eckhart Park, Noble Square, East Village and Ukrainian Village neighborhoods. The
community touches the largest central business district in the Midwest to the southeast,
and some of Chicago’s most rapidly changing residential neighborhoods to the north. The
Near Northwest Side is also home to the Kinzie Industrial Corridor and the Chicago-
Halsted Planned Manufacturing District, which includes both older, established facilities
and new high-tech operations. (City of Chicago, “A Plan for Chicago’s Northwest Side”,
2002 and published on course website)
Pre or co-requisite: UPP 503 Planning Skills
Co-requisite: UPP 505 Making Plans
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This course has the following objectives:
Provide experience making plans
Provide experience presenting plans
Provide experience applying planning skills
Provide experience working as part of a planning team
The UPP 506 Making Plans Studio must be taken concurrently with the UPP 505 Making
Plans course, which includes content on the form and process of plan making.
The course consists of three components: scenarios generation; problem analysis (open
space, commercial revitalization, housing, etc.); and the development of conceptual plans.
More information on Chicago Metropolis 2020 can be found at
http://www.chicagometropolis2020.org/5_3.htm
Textbook
Hopkins, Lewis D. and Marisa A. Zapata, 2007. Engaging the Future: Forecasts,
Scenarios, Plans, and Projects, Boston: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Expectations and Grading
Students will be divided into teams. Each team should prepare an electronic plan and a 30
minute presentation by the end of week 15. The presentations will be made before a jury
panel consisting of professionals (practitioners and academics). The panel will score each
presentation and select the best.
Team work/ presentation 60%
Individual paper 40%
Class Schedule
Week 1 (1/16) Introduction: Course outline and types of plans
Reading:
Hopkins & Zapata, 2007
Chapter 1 Engaging the future
Chapter 2 The use of forecasts in creating and adopting
visions for regional growth
Week 2(1/23) Field visit （10am at Eckhart Park entrance）
Reading:
Hopkins & Zapata, 2007
Chapter 3 Vision, planning, and democracy
Chapter 4 Promoting the community future in the contest with
present individualism
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Week 3(1/30) Class discussion: the Chicago region in 2040 (bring in data/ materials to
support your forecasts)
Reading:
Hopkins & Zapata, 2007
Chapter 9 Forecasting to learn how the world can work
Chapter 10 Deliberating about the future
Week 4 (2/6) Class discussion；Identify driving forces and criteria of sustainable
community (bring in materials to support your discussion)
Reading:
Hopkins & Zapata, 2007
Chapter 5 Using a scenario approach: from business to
regional future
Chapter 6 Using scenario to make urban plans
Week 5 (2/13) Class discussion: future development issues in the Near Northwest Side
community (bring in data/ materials to support your analysis)
Reading:
Hopkins & Zapata, 2007
Chapter 7 Using scenarios to build planning capacity
Chapter 8 How we use planning: planning cultures and images
of future
Week 6(2/20) Workshop: team meeting (distribution of responsibilities)
Reading:
Hopkins & Zapata, 2007
Chapter 11 Developing and using scenarios
Chapter 12 Engaging the public through narrative-based
scenarios
Week 7(2/27) Workshop: preparation for team presentations (scenarios, criteria, and
problems)
Reading:
Hopkins & Zapata, 2007
Chapter 13 Person-oriented narratives: extensions on scenario
planning for multicultural and multivocal communities
Chapter 14 Using plans and plan making process: deliberation
and representations of plans
Chapter 15 Engaging the future more effectively: a model
request for proposals
Week 8(3/5) Team presentation: The future of the Near Northwest Side (each team has
30 minutes)
Week 9(3/12) Lecture: The nature of urban design: approaches, values, and dimensions
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Week 10(3/19) Workshop: team discussion on issues facing the community
Week 11(3/26) Spring break, no class
Week 12(4/2) Workshop: pin up and feedback of individual work
Week 13(4/9) Workshop: individual work revision
Week 14(4/16) Workshop: preparation for final presentation
Week 15(4/23) Final presentation I: the conceptual plan for the improvement of public
spaces and the commercial corridor in the Near Northwest Side community
Week 16(4/30) Final presentation II: the conceptual plan for the improvement of public
spaces and the commercial corridor in the Near Northwest Side community
(Final presentation documents and term paper due at 9am on 4/30, Wednesday)
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